Obama Must Avenge Conan, Fire NBC's CEO

Treat Jeff Zucker like the head of GM, and do it now
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 25, 2010 12:57 PM CST
Obama Must Avenge Conan, Fire NBC's CEO
In this Sept. 15, 2009 file photo, Jeff Zucker, CEO of NBC Universal, arrives at the premiere of "Love Happens" in Los Angeles.   (AP Photo/Matt Sayles, file)

If President Obama can fire GM’s CEO, why not Jeff Zucker, the bonehead who ousted Conan O’Brien? The Tonight Show fiasco was just the latest masterstroke of the “blindingly incompetent” NBC boss, but it looks as though he’s safe until Comcast finishes acquiring the floundering broadcaster, writes Simon Dumenco for Advertising Age. “My fellow Americans, I say: Screw that! We can’t wait that long! It’s time for an intervention of the very highest order.”

Sure, the government hasn’t bailed out NBC the way it bailed out GM, but the government has always controlled the broadcast industry. These are the public airwaves—the networks are just licensing them. Besides, “pop culture is arguably America's greatest export.” It’s far more important than the auto industry. “Man up, Barack, just like you did last spring with GM," Dumenco writes. "Do what all of America wants you to do: Fire Jeff Zucker. I am only half-kidding.” (More Simon Dumenco stories.)

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