Buzzfeed and NBCUniversal have kept their relationship pretty quiet. But now it’s been revealed that the two have a “strategic partnership” with NBC having invested $400 million in Buzzfeed.
Transcripts from both MSNBC and NBC News didn’t turn up any mention of the investment when the news organization covered BuzzFeed’s discredited bombshell that claimed President Trump directed his former attorney Michael Cohen to lie to Congress before special counsel Robert Mueller released its statement.
While transcripts aren’t always 100 percent accurate, it’s clear the relationship was not disclosed with any consistency.
“NBCU is indeed an investor and a great strategic partner, but I’m afraid you’d have to ask them about how and when they disclose that information,” A BuzzFeed spokesperson told Fox News.
NBC News has not responded to a request for comment.
DePauw University professor and media critic Jeffrey McCall said that it should be “standard operating procedure that a media organization
NBCUniversal initially invested $200 million in 2015. Shortly after the 2016 election, NBCUniversal and BuzzFeed announced “an additional $200M investment to expand the strategic partnership between the two companies and fund the growth of BuzzFeed’s industry leading news and entertainment network.”
Reporter-turned-investment banker Porter Bibb told Fox news that NBCUniversal “controls” BuzzFeed.
“Their $400 million investment is just the tip of the iceberg. They use BuzzFeed content throughout the NBC system and should have disclosed their ownership when reporting especially unconfirmed stories, especially highly contentious reports suggesting the president committed a criminal act,” Bibb said. “Another egregious failure on the part of NBC news chief Andy Lack.”
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