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Under Wilson, GE got into the media
business itself to promote its pro-war message. In 1954, it hired a
floundering actor named Ronald Reagan to be its corporate spokesman. GE
furnished Reagan with an all-electric house and gave him his own TV
show, which was called "GE Theater."
It also furnished Reagan with "The Speech," GE's political message for
America, and sent him around the country to deliver it. He continued to
deliver variations of "The Speech" throughout his career.
Meanwhile, GE was busy buying up TV and radio stations across the
country.
Then in 1986, GE bought its own TV network -- NBC. [150]
Good evening, I'm Tom Brokaw and this is the NBC Nightly News.
General Electric and the other huge corporations that own the news media
are hardly unbiased sources of information. Yet most of the news
available to us -- about war and peace and everything else -- is
filtered through their perspective. This gives them a powerful influence
on public opinion.
Everyone is rallying behind the President.
Hmmm ...
But their influence is not as complete as they might hope.
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