FAIR is the national progressive media watchdog group, challenging corporate media bias, spin and misinformation.
Bill O’Reilly explainsthe diversity of viewpointsavailable on the Fox News Channel (2/27/09): The Fox News Channel features a variety of opinions. We parade in scores of guests each week with all kinds of views. Glenn Beck believes the nation is in crisis. Alan Colmes believes Obama could be the next FDR. Sean Hannity believes the […]
Sean Hannity is a great American. You can hear it every day on his national radio show, where the standard caller greeting to the host is, “Sean, you’re a great American!” The catchphrase is so well-known, it’s been commercialized! And who is more patriotic than Hannity, who uses his daily radio and Fox News Channel […]
Jon Stewart has a Daily Show bit (2/9/09) replaying Bill O’Reilly’s staunch declarations that “we hate those paparazzi, we think they’re the scum of the earth” because “the right to privacy is a basic constitutional tenet.” That sounds like quite a principled stand; the only trouble comes when Stewart then shows O’Reilly Factor clips of […]
After President Obama’s press conference last night, Fox host Bill O’Reilly saw one to scorepoints against the White House–by mocking Obama forrelying ona list of pre-approved journalists when he took questions. Unfortunately for O’Reilly, his guest at the time was former Bush press secretary Ari Fleischer, who had to point out that this was… well, […]
In a top-of-the-show rant about the dangers of the Guantanamo detainees, Fox‘s Bill O’Reilly declared (1/25/09): Just hours after President Obama announced he was going to shut down Guantanamo Bay, the feds confirmed that a released Gitmo inmate, 35-year-old Sahid al-Shahiri, had resumed terrorist activities in Yemen. Now if this isn’t a warning, ladies and […]
Commenting yesterday on the Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at George W. Bush, Fox News host Bill O’Reilly declared that “this horrendous story points out how difficult it is to deal with some Muslims”: Many Americans are simply fed up with these displays in the Arab world: unchecked violence, irrational thinking. One could say […]
New Yorker writer Hendrik Hertzberg tells (12/5/08) of being targeted by Fox‘s Bill O’Reilly for connecting Newt Gingrich to “anti-gay bigotry.” O’Reilly’s grievance against Hertzberg sparks from this passage in the writer’s December 1 New Yorker piece: Like a polluted swamp, anti-gay bigotry is likely to get thicker and more toxic as it dries up. […]
The New York Times‘ Jonathan Hicks (11/17/08), writing about newly elected Staten Island Rep. Michael McMahon: Mr. McMahon…stresses his working-class roots, telling voters of his Irish fatherâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢s lifelong job as an insurance underwriter. That must be the same working class that Bill O’Reilly comes from.
There’s been a fair amount of speculation about what Fox News Channel will do in the new political climate.The online teaser for tonight’s edition of the O’Reilly Factor gives us some sense of the, uhh, future: Monday, November 10: The Factor confronts Rev. Jeremiah Wright! You won’t want to miss it!
Fresh off his suggestion that his success was proof of the existence of God, Bill O’Reilly draws a new parallel— one that really doesn’t merit a response (at least a verbal one): O’Reilly says his views have made him a target. “My life is dangerous now,” he said. “You know, I have bodyguards and security. […]
This article is part of FAIR’s study “Smearcasting: How Islamophobes Spread Bigotry, Fear and Misinformation.” Bigots aren’t born, and hate doesn’t spring up on its own; as the song says, “You’ve got to be carefully taught.” The following list includes some of the media’s leading teachers of anti-Muslim bigotry, serving various roles in the Islamophobic […]
Fox News Channel’s Bill O’Reilly and CBS talkshow host David Letterman had a well-publicized showdown on Letterman’s program in January 2006, so it came as no surprise that their next face-to-face on October 27 would be similarly heated. After the interview aired, O’Reilly accused Letterman of dishonesty for saying O’Reilly had lied on his show, […]
Fox News Channel‘s Bill O’Reilly and CBS talk show host David Letterman had a well-publicized showdown on Letterman’s program in early January, so it came as no surprise that their next face-to-face on October 27 would be similarly heated. After the interview aired, O’Reilly accused Letterman of dishonesty for accurately saying O’Reilly had lied on […]
On his October 4 broadcast, Fox host Bill O’Reilly presented a segment about “political smear” websites that “will do and say pretty much anything to harm people with whom they disagree politically.” Ironically, O’Reilly used that very segment to launch his own smear. Guest David Kline said to O’Reilly: “I think there are a lot […]
Cable news networks have devoted significant time to the case of Natalee Holloway, an Alabama teenager who disappeared in Aruba. But cable news’ most popular host has urged the media to exercise caution. On June 9, Fox News Channel‘s Bill O’Reilly explained, “As you may know, we do not speculate here on The Factor. We […]
In April 2003, Fox News Channel‘s Bill O’Reilly hosted a fundraiser for Best Friends, a charity benefiting inner-city schoolchildren. As reported in the Washington Post (4/15/03), O’Reilly was trying to fill the time before a singing group connected with the charity, called the Best Men, was set to perform, and quipped: “Does anyone know where […]
We hope you depend on us for the truth, because we’re going to report the situation in Iraq without an agenda or any ideological prejudice. —Bill O’Reilly (O’Reilly Factor, 1/17/03) Not so long ago, Bill O’Reilly had no particular interest in the threat Iraq posed to the world (2/16/01): “You know, I don’t take Saddam […]
The Disarmament Nightmare Subheads over a March 4 New York Times article: “More Missiles Destroyed; Washington Is Concerned Over Possible Complications for Effort to Disarm Iraq.” Nothing like disarming to complicate disarmament. NBC Nightly News (2/27/03) was even more alarmed about the missile destruction, with Andrea Mitchell reporting: “For the U.S., it’s a nightmare scenario. […]
If it’s “spin” to back up your arguments with bogus facts and statistics, and to dismiss numbers that don’t fit in with your preconceptions, then Bill O’Reilly‘s Fox News Channel show isn’t, as he repeatedly claims, a “no-spin zone”—it’s Spin City. During an interview with National Organization for Women president Kim Gandy (O’Reilly Factor, 2/5/02), […]
Many media voices are enlisting in the push toward war. CBS anchor Dan Rather seemed more soldier than reporter on Monday’s Letterman show when he endorsed the war drive and added: “George Bush is the President…. Wherever he wants me to line up, just tell me where.” It’s worth remembering that a similar push followed […]
