A pair of bills that would strengthen antipiracy laws — and that could essentially censor the Internet, according to heavyweights like Google — have received scant coverage from the major television networks. The parent companies of the TV networks are among the chief supporters of the bills, having lobbied Congress to write them in the first place.

Those two facts, taken together, have caused conspiracy theories to flourish online about corporate interference in news coverage.

Chris Hayes and the staff of his show on MSNBC, “Up,” knew that when they invited Richard Cotton — the chief lawyer for NBC Universal, MSNBC’s parent company — and a prominent opponent of the bills, Alexis Ohanian of Reddit.com, on their Sunday morning broadcast. They viewed the bookings as an implicit rebuttal to the conspiracy theories, but also as a reminder that the parent companies of news organizations do indeed take sides sometimes.

NBC Universal “is not at all neutral in this legislative battle,” Mr. Hayes said in his introductory segment, noting for effect the coffee mugs in an MSNBC kitchen that read, “Steal this mug! But not our content (and our jobs).” NBC distributed the mugs to employees to rally support for the bills — known as SOPA, short for Stop Online Piracy Act, and the Protect IP Act — a few months ago.

During the long debate that ensued, Mr. Hayes, a progressive journalist and anchor who joined MSNBC full time last fall, clashed with Mr. Cotton, the longtime general counsel for NBC Universal who has led the media industry’s fight against content piracy. “This legislation,” he said, “would not affect a single site in the United States,” while Mr. Hayes and Mr. Ohanian contended that it would.

Mr. Cotton frequently gives interviews, but appearances by him on networks owned by NBC are rare. His appearance on MSNBC on Sunday morning was arranged by the company’s press office.

“Up” staffers joked afterward about Mr. Hayes having to clean out his desk, and he wrote on Twitter, also humorously, that “that show took a few years off my life.”