Employees of cable giant Comcast have contributed more money to President Obama’s reelection campaign than any other organization, according to an analysis of FEC data by the Campaign for Responsive Politics.
According to the analysis, Comcast employees have contributed $200,000 through the first six months of the year to the Obama Victory Fund.
Obama’s cozy relationship with Comcast runs deep, with CEO Brian Roberts serving on the President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness and executive vice president David Cohen being a big Obama fundraiser who has bundled more than $500,000 in contributions for Obama’s 2012 campaign.
The contributions by Comcast employees far outstrip those of rival ABC, whose parent Walt Disney Corp. shows up on the list at number 15 with just under $85,000 in contributions so far.
CBS employees are either skinflints or disillusioned with Obama as they didn’t even make the CRP’s top 20 list. Even employees of News Corp, which owns Fox News and is controlled by Rupert Murdoch, made the list with almost $75,000 in contributions.
Comcast employees didn’t completely forget the Republicans, with contributions of $5,000 each to Tim Pawlenty and Mitt Romney, but that was just one-twentieth of what they gave to Obama alone.
While it is perfectly legal for employees to contribute to the candidate of their choice, the fact that high-level executives of Comcast, which owns NBC, are actively raising funds for Obama’s reelection should raise concerns about the network’s ability to cover the administration and the reelection campaign in an objective manner. Not that anyone paying attention actually thought they were.
Don Irvine is the chairman of Accuracy in Media and its sister organization Accuracy in Academia. As the son of Reed Irvine, who launched AIM in 1969, he developed an understanding of media bias at an early age, and has been actively involved with AIM for over 30 years.
