Dumping their tax-deductible loot by the millions, the corporations (Archer Daniels Midland, GE, Mobil, Exxon, Chevron, Dupont, Metropolitan Life) encouraged the sort of shows only a member of the Business Roundtable could  centrist news programs, conservative talk shows, Wall Street advice shows, lions-of-the-Serengeti documentaries, and historical dramas that set all human conflict in late-19 th -century England.