Seacrest In? What Happened to Comcast's Commitment to the News?

[Commentary] A year ago, when Comcast was pushing through its multibillion-dollar mega-merger with NBC (with an assist from future in-house lobbyist Meredith Attwell Baker), the company promised that it wouldn't interfere with the news operations. It didn't say anything about possibly abandoning them altogether. Ryan Seacrest might be great at shilling for Ford and Coke in between warbling amateur musical segments, and he seems to be a decent stand-in for Casey Kasem on America's Top 40. But are we really supposed to believe that qualifies him to interview presidents and national leaders? Is Seacrest going to anchor from Kabul or Baghdad or lead coverage during moments of crisis like terrorist attacks?