Murdoch steps into O'Reilly row

News Corp boss Rupert Murdoch recently phoned Jeff Zucker, chairman and CEO of NBC, in an intervention in the ongoing row between Fox News commentator Bill O'Reilly and a rival.

O'Reilly, a right winger who supports the war in Iraq, has for several years been trading insults with Keith Olbermann, the host of NBC's Countdown current affairs show.

The dispute appears to have become particularly bitter in recent weeks and increasingly dragged in senior executives.

O'Reilly has been attacking General Electric - NBC's parent company - for its ongoing business presence in Iran, a country which, O'Reilly believes, is supporting insurgents in Iraq. Among other barbs, O'Reilly has accused GE of keeping Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian President, "comfy when he's plotting to kill US troops and trying to annihilate Israel".

GE and NBC say Fox told them that if Olbermann stopped attacking O'Reilly, the aggressive pieces on GE would end. "They've had conversations with our news executives saying, 'If you stop, we'll stop,'" said a GE spokesman.

According to the Washington Post, the row went right to the top after a liberal activist was filmed confronting O'Reilly outside his home.

Murdoch, head of Fox parent News Corp, phoned Zucker to ask that the footage, put on a blog, not be aired by Olbermann. An NBC senior vice president passed on the message to Olbermann and the film was not used - though the host insists he had already decided to come out against the activist's behaviour.