Friday, March 13, 2009

Criticism of Bill O'Reilly!!

Criticism of Bill O'Reilly (political commentator)

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Over the years, there have been several issues highlighted in American political commentator Bill O'Reilly's print and broadcast work. He has drawn criticism from several individuals and groups including Al Franken, Bill Moyers,[1] David Letterman, Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, Free Press, Jon Stewart, Keith Olbermann, and Media Matters for America.

Contents

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[edit] Analysis of Bill O'Reilly and his Methods

[edit] Indiana University study

In early 2007, researchers from the Indiana University School of Journalism published a report in the academic journal Journalism Studies that analyzed the Talking Points Memo segment that opens most O'Reilly Factor broadcasts on Fox News Channel. Using analysis techniques developed in the 1930s by the Institute for Propaganda Analysis, the researchers compared O'Reilly's comments and style to a 1939 study of Father Charles Coughlin. Among the conclusions, the study found that O'Reilly used propaganda far more often than Coughlin and that he was three times more likely to be a "name caller". The report also found "a consistent pattern of O'Reilly casting non-Americans in a negative light. Both illegal aliens and foreigners were constructed as physical threats to the public and never featured in the role of victim or hero."[2][3]

O'Reilly criticized the study, asserting that "the terms 'conservative,' 'liberal,' 'left,' 'right,' 'progressive,' 'traditional' or 'centrist' were treated as name-calling if they were associated with a problem or social ill." The study's authors responded that O'Reilly was incorrect and that, as the study itself said, "We did not count 'liberal, conservative, centrist' as name-calling unless they were linked to a derogatory qualifier. O'Reilly's reference to 'Kool-Aid left' is an example of what we counted as name-calling. Or is the reference to folks of a particular political persuasion as a cult on a suicide mission fair and balanced reporting?"[4] O'Reilly also claimed that Indiana University has received millions of dollars from George Soros' Open Society Institute,[5] to which the authors responded that they had "received no funding for this study". [4]

Fox News producer Ron Mitchell also wrote an op-ed criticizing the study, echoing O'Reilly's charge that too many terms were counted as name-calling and pointed to "buried headline" as an example. He also accused the authors of seeking to manipulate their research to fit a predetermined outcome. Mitchell argued that by using tools developed for examining propaganda, the researchers presupposed that O'Reilly propagandized.[6] He also pointed to a section in which the authors describe making changes to their "coding instrument" because the first attempts generated "unacceptably low scores." The authors responded that their study had been extensively vetted through two rounds of anonymous peer review prior to publication and that the methodology that Mitchell criticized was accepted scientific practice put in place to prevent bias, not to create it.[4] Specifically, a Media Matters response piece said that Mitchell misunderstood what a "coding instrument" is. The methodology called for individual researchers ("coders") to analyze broadcasts and code their findings into a database. The mention of "unacceptably low scores" did not mean that initial methods found too few instances of O'Reilly calling names; instead, it referred to "unacceptably low" consistency between coders analyzing the same data.[7]

[edit] FAIR's Peter Hart

Peter Hart, a media analyst for Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, co-authored The Oh Really Factor: Unspinning Fox News Channel's Bill O'Reilly.[8] In the 2004 documentary Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism, Hart states that The O'Reilly Factor is a "perfect example" of what is wrong with Fox News, alleging that the Republican Party gets favored treatment over the Democratic Party on O'Reilly's show, as well as the network in general.[9]

[edit] Selective Editing

On the June 24, 2004, edition of Air America Radio's The O'Franken Factor, a show humorously named after The O'Reilly Factor, Georgetown University law professor David D. Cole told host Al Franken about an incident that occured while he appeared on the June 21 edition of O'Reilly's show. Cole claimed that as the episode's Talking Points Memo segment was being taped, O'Reilly told his producers to re-record the segment in order to prevent the airing of footage showing New Jersey governor and 9/11 Commission chairman Thomas Kean confirming that no evidence was found to suggest a link between Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq and the al-Qaeda terrorist network. After this was done, Cole alleged, O'Reilly then claimed that Kean had confirmed that there was indeed a link between the two groups, without playing the footage. Cole also claimed that when he directly challenged O'Reilly for his deception in the subsequent interview, O'Reilly went "berserk", called his guest an "SOB", and "said I would never, ever be invited to be on the show again." Cole finally claimed that when the interview was finally broadcast that night, the portion of the interview showing Cole's confrontation and O'Reilly's subsequent outburst was edited out by Fox News producers[10].

In an O'Franken Factor television broadcast on the Sundance Channel, Franken criticized O'Reilly for selectively and misleadingly editing a June 5, 2005 interview of Senator Joseph Biden by George Stephanopoulos. In the interview Biden proposed the submission of legislation for an independent commission to look into wrongdoing in the U.S. Army's prison system at Guantanamo Bay, Abu Ghraib and elsewhere.[11] When O'Reilly analyzed the same interview on The Factor, the broadcast edited out all references Biden made to appointing an independent commission and only presented Biden's call to shut down Guantanamo Bay. O'Reilly accused Biden of misusing the prison abuse story and then presented the missing part of Biden's remarks as his own opinion: "The Bush administration should set up an independent commission to investigate American detainee policy across the board. The president must take the offensive on this, or else the country's image will continue to suffer and the jihadists and their enablers will win another victory." Franken criticized this as a misrepresentation by O'Reilly.[12]

[edit] Marvin Kitman and his O'Reilly biography

In January 2007, St. Martin's Press released the biography The Man Who Would Not Shut Up: The Rise of Bill O'Reilly, written by longtime Newsday TV critic Marvin Kitman. O'Reilly initially cooperated with the author by giving him 29 interviews. According to Kitman, O'Reilly was going to help promote and publicize the book until, just prior to publication, they had a disagreement over the inclusion of a chapter covering Andrea Mackris' 2004 sexual harassment lawsuit against O'Reilly.[13] After the book came out with the chapter included, Kitman asserts that O'Reilly, instead of promoting the book, attempted to bury it by "intimidating" and "terrorizing" Fox News prime time shows to keep them from inviting Kitman to appear.[14]

In an interview with Keith Olbermann, Kitman criticized O'Reilly as "kind of a hypocrite" by pointing out O'Reilly's belief that journalists should not attempt to flatter or indulge the people they cover. "Throughout all my interviews," Kitman said, "[O'Reilly] was telling me that nobody could ever tell him what question to ask, or what to say." However, when the subject was O'Reilly himself, Kitman said that "it turned out that he‘s not so much in favor of telling it like it is, but like it isn‘t".[14] Kitman also said he found it strange that O'Reilly sought to suppress the book when it cast him in a generally favorable light. When speaking to Olbermann, Kitman said, "This is the only book that‘s ever said anything positive about Bill, except for the six he wrote about himself."[14] Several critics agree that the book's portrayal is fair.[15][16]

[edit] Conflicting comments on teen pregnancy

O'Reilly criticized the news media for addressing the matter of Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin's seventeen year-old, unwed daughter's pregnancy. O'Reilly claimed it was a strictly private family matter and that Palin could not be responsible for her daughter's actions. The Atlanta Journal Constitution's Editorial Page Editor Cynthia Tucker, Jon Stewart and the Huffington Post each noted that O'Reilly himself had several months earlier criticized another unwed pregnant teenager, Jamie Lynn Spears, sixteen at the time, labeling her a "pinhead" and calling her parents irresponsible.[17] [18][19] [20][21] In response to Tucker's criticism, O'Reilly sent a producer to confront her outside her home. During the brief confrontation, Tucker defended her column and her opinion that O'Reilly is a "hypocrite."[22][23] [24] [25]

[edit] Critics and Rivals

O'Reilly has been involved in numerous controversies and rivalries with various people and organizations. Some of the more notable are Media Matters for America, Al Franken, George Soros and Keith Olbermann.

[edit] Media Matters for America

Media Matters for America describes itself as a politically progressive, web-based, non-profit organization that reports and criticizes what it describes as "conservative misinformation in the U.S. media."[26] O'Reilly is often the subject of Media Matters' online reports.

O'Reilly has referred to Media Matters as "smear merchants," and "the most vile, despicable human beings on the planet," and has expressed distaste for the site he claims is funded by George Soros.[27] Media Matters maintains that it has never received funding from Soros "either directly or through another organization."[28] Media Matters founder David Brock says that he has repeatedly requested that O'Reilly debate him on O'Reilly's program and that O'Reilly has refused. Media Matters also says that O’Reilly has not been able to specifically challenge the accuracy of Media Matters’s reporting.[29]

[edit] Al Franken

Al Franken.

Al Franken's 2003 book Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look At the Right included a picture of O'Reilly on the cover and a chapter devoted to him inside. In his book, Franken accused O'Reilly of distorting facts both to serve conservative politics and to improve his public image. The two men participated in a panel discussion at the 2003 BookExpoAmerica (which was televised on C-SPAN). Franken described O'Reilly's denial of erroneous statements regarding receiving two Peabody Awards. After Franken spoke, the two men argued.

Following the Book TV argument, Fox News sued Franken for trademark infringement over the use of the phrase "fair and balanced" in the book's title. O'Reilly has generally said that he was not involved in the lawsuit. In an interview with Time, O'Reilly was asked if he "regrets pushing the lawsuit against Al Franken", to which he replied, "Not at all."[30] When the case reached court, the presiding judge denied Fox's request for injunctive relief and described the case as "wholly without merit, both factually and legally". [31] Fox then dropped the suit. O'Reilly later said he had considered personally suing Franken for defamation but was told that, as a public person, the standard of proof would be too high to sustain a lawsuit.

[edit] Keith Olbermann

See also: Countdown with Keith Olbermann#Olbermann vs. O'Reilly

Olbermann's show Countdown on MSNBC, which airs opposite The O'Reilly Factor, is highly critical of O'Reilly. Olbermann frequently names O'Reilly in the "Worst Persons in the World" segment of the program. On Countdown, Olbermann had also previously initiated an unsuccessful campaign to "Save the Tapes", referring to the rumor that there exist tapes of O'Reilly making lurid phone sex calls to Andrea Mackris, a former producer of his show. Mackris sued O'Reilly for sexual harassment and the suit was settled out of court. O'Reilly also sued Mackris for attempted extortion, but dropped the case when her suit was settled. O'Reilly never refers to Olbermann specifically, usually just saying "NBC News" instead.[citation needed]

[edit] 2008 Financial Bailout: Criticism of Right wing radio

O'Reilly criticized conservative radio hosts for opposing the $700 billion bailout. He said, "Most talk radio is conservative-dominated, ideologue, Kool-Aid–drinking idiots." Conservative radio host Mark Levin fired back by calling O'Reilly "another mainstream, moron, phony journalist".[32][33]

[edit] Dispute with Bill Moyers and Free Press

Bill Moyers

During the 2008 National Conference for Media Reform, O'Reilly sent producer Porter Barry to question Bill Moyers. According to critics, the conduct and goal of Porter Barry was to "ambush" Moyers and set up an attack piece.[34][1] In his questioning, Porter repetitively asked why Bill Moyers did not agree to go on O'Reilly's show and said that he had played "games" with O'Reilly. Moyers denied playing games and Porter did not specify what those "games" were. [35] In response to Barry's questions asking why he wouldn't go on Bill's show, Moyers said that:

"Rupert Murdoch said the best thing that will come out of the Iraq War would be gasoline at $20 a barrel. Now today when I came here I looked at it and it was 130 and something dollars. When is Rupert going to explain why the war didn't give us $20 a barrel?"

—Bill Moyers

and that he would

"come on the O'Reilly show first after Rupert Murdoch has explained why we are not getting $20 a barrel of oil for the Iraq War he said would deliver. Secondly I will come on Bill O'Reilly's show after he accepts my invitation to be on my show unedited. I'll give him a whole hour. You go back and take that message. But let's see if the message gets on the air. And if it doesn't, you know, if you want a job, I may have some recommendations for you."

—Bill Moyers

[34]

Furthermore, Moyers called O'Reilly a "pugilist", not a journalist, and claimed that another of Bill O'Reilly's producers had ambushed him previously.[35] After speaking with Moyers, several reporters questioned Porter Barry using what they claimed were the same tactics he used on Moyers, as the producer left.[35][34] The O'Reilly Factor did not air the interview, and instead called the NCMR a "far-left fiesta",[36] in addition to previously calling Free Press "crazy" and "fascist".[1] In response, Free Press, which supports the NCMR, launched a campaign saying O'Reilly was not a journalist, and that he should stop calling himself one. [1]

[edit] Notable controversies

Bill O'Reilly has been involved in several controversies throughout the years.

[edit] Malmedy massacre controversy

On October 3, 2005, retired four-star general Wesley Clark was a guest on The O'Reilly Factor. A topic of debate on the program was a ruling regarding the potential release of more photos from the infamous Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. Clark defended the release of the additional Abu Ghraib photos saying the country needed to know what happened. While debating with Clark, O'Reilly incorrectly stated a historical fact of World War II when he said "General, you need to look at the Malmedy massacre in World War II and the 82nd Airborne that did it." Historically, German troops were actually responsible for the massacre of 84 American soldiers in the town of Malmedy, Belgium during World War II.[37]

On May 30, 2006, Clark again appeared on The O'Reilly Factor. While discussing "the apparent murder of Iraqi civilians in Haditha", O'Reilly once again incorrectly referred to the Malmedy massacre, stating "In Malmedy, as you know, US forces captured SS forces, who had their hands in the air and they were unarmed and they shot them down. You know that. That's on the record; [it's] been documented."[38]

The next day, on May 31, 2006, O'Reilly addressed a viewer email regarding the inaccuracy. As reported on The O'Reilly Factor, the email came from a Fort Worth Texas viewer named Donn Caldwell and stated: "Bill, you mentioned Malmedy as the site of an American massacre during World War II. It was the other way around, the SS shot down U.S. prisoners." O'Reilly responded to this by saying: "In the heat of the debate with General Clark my statement wasn't clear enough Mr. Caldwell. After Malmedy, some German captives were executed by American troops."[38]

According to Keith Olbermann and Media Matters, Fox News' website edited the transcript of O'Reilly's second interview with Clark, changing the line to, "In Normandy, as you know, U.S. forces captured SS forces" when the video clearly shows that O'Reilly said "Malmedy" rather than "Normandy."[39]

This second instance of O'Reilly misstating the facts of the massacre, combined with his denial of doing so and the apparent cover up in the transcript by Fox News prompted a harsh response by Olbermann on the June 1, 2006 edition of MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann.[40] Olbermann showed video clips of O'Reilly making these incorrect statements from the October 3 and May 30 editions of The O'Reilly Factor and showed the clip of O'Reilly addressing the viewer email the following day. Olbermann lambasted O'Reilly, calling him a "false patriot who would rather be loud than right." He also compared the editing of the transcript to George Orwell's 1984.

After the airing, Fox News corrected the afore-mentioned transcript on June 2, which was noted in a follow up report on Countdown with Keith Olbermann the following Monday.[41] The Media Matters for America website also posted a report detailing the correction of the transcript that same day.[42]

[edit] Jeremy Glick

On his televised program on February 4, 2003, O'Reilly interviewed Jeremy Glick (co-author of Another World is Possible), whose father had been killed in the September 11 attacks. Glick had signed an anti-war ad that made comments relating the attacks to atrocities in Baghdad, Panama City and Vietnam. After Glick accused O'Reilly of evoking "9/11 to rationalize everything from domestic plunder to imperialistic aggression worldwide", and also of evoking "sympathy with the 9/11 families" to do the same, O'Reilly became visibly angered with Glick and said, "That's a bunch of crap. I've done more for the 9/11 families by their own admission — I've done more for them than you will ever hope to do". At one point in the interview, O'Reilly told Glick to "shut up" and said, "I don't really care what you think." The short and heated segment ended with O'Reilly giving the command to his staff to cut Glick's microphone.[43][44]

In an interview with Rolling Stone, Glick said that O’Reilly said to him after the interview, “Get out of my studio before I tear you to fucking pieces.” Glick also says that he insulted O’Reilly’s show off-camera.[45] O'Reilly aired the segment, which was recorded "live to tape"[46], then said to his audience, "If I knew that guy Jeremy Glick was gonna be like that I never would have brought him in here. I feel bad for his family, I really do." Afterward, O'Reilly apologized for Glick's appearance on the show and then accused Glick of touting 9/11 conspiracy theories, and, based upon the tape and transcript of the interview which MediaMatters posted on its website, falsely claimed that Glick said the Bush administration planned the 9/11 attacks. [47] O'Reilly repeated the false assertion in a subsequent segment with Phil Donahue.

[edit] Barbara Boxer comments

In January 2005, O'Reilly criticized Senator Barbara Boxer for allegedly calling Condoleezza Rice unpatriotic. Boxer had said, "I personally believe that your loyalty to the mission you were given, to sell this war, overwhelmed your respect for the truth." Media Matters criticized O'Reilly for misquoting her several times as referring to Rice's "respect for the troops".[48] When several callers attempted to correct the error on O'Reilly's show, he rebuked them.[49]

[edit] Peabody Award

O'Reilly incorrectly claimed at a February 10, 2001 speech at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida, that Inside Edition, a show he had previously anchored, had won a Peabody Award. After watching subsequent broadcast of the speech on C-SPAN, Al Franken performed a search on LexisNexis and found three previous occasions dating back to August 30, 1999 where O'Reilly had repeated the incorrect claim. On at least one occasion, O'Reilly used the first-person pronoun "we" and said the show won (plural) "Peabody Awards".[50][51] After Franken called O'Reilly for a statement, O'Reilly acknowledged that he had made an error and issued a correction on his show. Inside Edition had in fact won a George Polk Award and not a Peabody.[52] The Polk award was given one year after O'Reilly's tenure at Inside Edition and for work O'Reilly had not been involved with.[52][53]

Franken called Lloyd Grove, a reporter for The Washington Post, who called O'Reilly and asked him about his statements. O'Reilly said, "So I got mixed up between a Peabody Award and a Polk Award". Grove published the story on March 1, 2001 in his column "The Reliable Source".[54]

Robert Reno of Newsday wrote an opinion piece that used this example to argue that O'Reilly cares more about self-aggrandizement than journalism. O'Reilly criticized Reno's article as an example of "attack journalism" and said that "you can't find a transcript where I said [I won a Peabody]".[55] He has rejected the characterization that he was lying and maintained that he never said that he personally won any such award. Franken and other critics have pointed to O'Reilly's use of "we" to rebut O'Reilly's contention.

[edit] Ludacris and Pepsi

In 2002, Pepsi hired rapper Ludacris to be a spokesperson. On August 27, 2002, O'Reilly called for Americans to boycott the product.[56] due to O'Reilly's opinion that Ludacris' lyrics glamorize a "life of guns, violence, drugs and disrespect of women".[57] The next day, Pepsi officially dropped Ludacris as is spokesperson claiming "a responsibility to listen to our customers -- and we've heard from a number of people that they were uncomfortable with our association with this artist."[58] In his book, Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them, Franken pointed out that even though O'Reilly called for the Pepsi boycott because of the supposed vulgarity of Ludacris' lyrics, O'Reilly himself described scenarios of a similarly violent and sexual nature in his novel, Those Who Trespass.

[edit] Boycott of French goods

In March 2003, O'Reilly called for a boycott of French products and services sold in the United States, due to President Jacques Chirac's stance on the 2003 invasion of Iraq.[59] In April 27, 2004; O'Reilly said, “They’ve lost billions of dollars in France” as a direct result of his boycott, referring to "The Paris Business Review" as his source, a publication that does not exist. O'Reilly then said about two months later that the boycott caused France to lose $138 million in business compared to the previous year.[60][61]

The CBC and Media Matters for America have said that French exports to the US increased during the period of O'Reilly's boycott, citing U.S. Census Bureau figures.[62][63][64]

In May 2007 O'Reilly announced he was ending the boycott upon the election of Nicolas Sarkozy as French President.[65]

[edit] Controversy about O'Reilly's childhood home and upbringing

O'Reilly has long said that his inspiration for speaking up for average Americans, or what he calls "the folks", are his working-class roots. He has pointed to his boyhood home in Levittown, New York as a credential. In an interview with The Washington Post, O'Reilly's mother said that her family lived in Westbury,[66] which is a few miles from Levittown. Citing this interview, Al Franken, Michael Kinsley, and others have accused O'Reilly of distorting his background to create a more working-class image.

O'Reilly has countered that The Washington Post misquoted his mother,[67] and he said his mother still lives in his childhood home, which was built by William Levitt. O'Reilly placed a copy of the house's mortgage, which shows a Levittown postal address, on his website. Levittown was redrawn into a squarish shape[68] to conform with the 11756 ZIP code, which was introduced in 1963. After this time the O'Reilly home was located in Westbury. On a 2005 episode of The Al Franken Show, Franken invited a Long Island historian onto the show, and she said that O'Reilly's statement about having lived in "the Westbury section of Levittown" was generally accurate and that the house could fairly be described as being in either town. She also said that O'Reilly's neighborhood was not the "hardscrabble" environment he suggested it was.[69]

O'Reilly has also said, "You don't come from any lower than I came from on an economic scale"[70] and that his father "never earned more than $35,000 a year in his life." Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting has calculated that adjusted for inflation, $35,000 in 1978 would be worth over $90,000 in 2001 dollars.[50] O'Reilly has retorted that his father's $35,000 income only came at the end of his long career, at which point O'Reilly would have been long independent of his parents. [71]

[edit] Inaccurate reporting on "lesbian gangs"

The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) and the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) have each separately criticized O'Reilly for featuring a story about a "national epidemic" of teenage lesbian gangs who carry pink pistols and try to indoctrinate young girls into lesbianism. GLAAD and the SPLC outlined ways in which the sourcing for the story was flimsy, false, or omitted pertinent facts.[72][73] Rashad Robinson, GLAAD's Senior Director of Media Programs, said, "This type of inaccurate tabloid journalism perpetuates dangerous stereotypes about lesbians and feeds a climate of homophobia, anti-gay discrimination and violence."[72] O’Reilly acknowledged that the story was overhyped, but defended it. "It’s a valid story," he said. "Is it out of control? No." He continued, "I’m not in fear of the lesbians beating me up tonight." Robinson called O'Reilly's response a "non-apology apology" and added that "the story is a complete and total fabrication, and he still has failed to offer one shred of evidence as to why it’s legitimate news."[74]

[edit] Rapper Nas

On September 6, 2007 a free concert was scheduled in remembrance of the Virginia Tech shooting. The concert was scheduled, with headline acts including John Mayer, Nas, Phil Vassar, and Dave Matthews Band.[75] When it was announced that Nas was to perform, O'Reilly and Fox News Channel denounced the concert and called for the removal of the rapper citing "violent" lyrics on songs including "Shoot 'Em Up", "Got Urself A Gun", and "Made You Look". During his Talking Points Memo segment for August 15, 2007, an argument erupted in which O'Reilly mentioned not only Nas' lyrical content but the fact that Nas had a "gun conviction" on his criminal record.[76] Responding to O'Reilly, Nas in an interview with MTV News said:[77]

He doesn't understand the younger generation. He deals with the past. The people he represents are Republican, older, a generation that has nothing to do with the reality of what's happening now with my generation. ... He's not really on my radar. People like him are supposed to be taught and people like me are supposed to let niggas like him know. I don't take him serious. His shit is all about getting ratings or whatever. I wouldn't honor anything Bill O'Reilly has to say. It just shows you what bloodsuckers do: They abuse something like the Virginia Tech [tragedy] for show ratings. You can't talk to a person like that.

Nas later took part in a protest in front of Fox News' headquarters in New York City with the Reverend Al Sharpton in 2008, accusing Fox News of being biased against the African-American community.

[edit] American Red Cross and the United Way

After the September 11 terrorist attacks, O'Reilly devoted substantial time on his television show and wrote pieces accusing the United Way of America and American Red Cross of failing to deliver millions of dollars in donated money, raised by the organizations in the name of the disaster, to the families of those killed in the attacks.[78][79] O'Reilly claimed that the organizations misrepresented their intentions for the money being raised by not distributing all of the 9/11 relief fund to the victims.[80] Actor George Clooney responded to O'Reilly's claims, accusing O'Reilly of misstating facts (including confusing the United Way with the Red Cross), sloppy reporting and harming the relief effort by inciting "panic" among potential donors.[81] Congressional hearings were called on the matter and an investigation by New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer took place. Bernadette Healey, the president of the Red Cross, resigned shortly thereafter.[82] In a statement before the House Ways and Means Committee in November 2001, Congressman J.D. Hayworth asserted that media pressure, most notably from O'Reilly, helped cause the Red Cross to increase payments to affected people and helped cause other charities to participate in an oversight database established by Spitzer.[83]

[edit] Military recruitment in San Francisco schools

On November 8, 2005, the voters of San Francisco approved Proposition I/College Not Combat, a ballot measure that declared the city's opposition to "the federal government's use of public schools to recruit students for service in the military."[84] In response, O'Reilly stated on his radio show, "You know, if I'm the president of the United States, I walk right in to Union Square, I set up my little presidential podium, and I say listen, citizens of San Francisco, if you vote against military recruiting, you're not going to get another nickel in federal funds. Fine. You want to be your own country? Go right ahead. And if Al Qaeda comes in here and blows you up, we're not going to do anything about it....We're going to say, "Look, every other place in America is off limits to you, except San Francisco. You want to blow up the Coit Tower? Go ahead."[85] San Francisco Supervisor Chris Daly responded, calling for O'Reilly to be fired from Fox.[86] O'Reilly refused to apologize, saying his comments were "obviously satirical."[87] The proposition's author, Todd Chretien, appeared on The O'Reilly Factor in response and stated that to the people of San Francisco, the proposition itself was "no laughing matter."

[edit] Shawn Hornbeck

Shawn Hornbeck (a former missing child) was found living with 41 year old Michael J. Devlin on January 12, 2007. Hornbeck had been kidnapped by Devlin in 2002 at the age of 11. After being discovered, it was revealed that at some point in that four years Devlin had given Hornbeck the freedom to get on the internet, ride his bike, and have friends over. Many members of the media speculated that Hornbeck apparently did not try to escape because of Stockholm syndrome. On January 16, 2007's edition of The O'Reilly Factor, O'Reilly called this analysis into question. He said that he doesn't believe in the Stockholm Syndrome, and that the boy probably preferred not going to school and playing video games to living with his parents. O'Reilly said: "The situation here, for this kid, looks to me to be a lot more fun than what he had under his old parents. He didn't have to go to school, he could run around and do whatever he wanted…there was an element here that this kid liked about this circumstance." He then went on to say that Hornbeck was probably maladjusted before being abducted. He supported his comments with the fact that Hornbeck had piercings and that O'Reilly himself had once taught high school. Following his comments, the Naples, Florida Chapter of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children announced that O'Reilly's appearance at a fundraiser where he was to give the keynote address was cancelled. He was replaced by John Walsh.[88] The New York Daily News reported that "O'Reilly responded that he may find it necessary to apologize to Shawn's parents, Pam and Craig Akers - but not until he learns more. 'This is a complicated, disturbing story,' he said. 'No question this monster [accused kidnapper Michael] Devlin made threats and intimidated Shawn. But teenagers have brains, and Shawn had the freedom to get away if he wanted to.' Shawn was 11 when he was kidnapped."[89]

[edit] Harlem restaurant comments

On the September 19, 2007 edition of The Radio Factor, prior to having a discussion about racial stereotypes with fellow Fox News commentator and author Juan Williams,[90] O'Reilly mentioned a lunch he had with Rev. Al Sharpton at Sylvia's restaurant in Harlem. Before Williams joined the discussion, he said that he "couldn't get over the fact that there was no difference between Sylvia's restaurant and any other restaurant in New York City. I mean, it was exactly the same, even though it's run by blacks, primarily black patronship." Later on the show, while discussing how white America feels that gangsta rappers dominate black culture, Williams stated, "Oh, and it’s just so awful. It’s just so awful because, I mean, it’s literally the sewer come to the surface, and now people take it that the sewer is the whole story", to which O'Reilly responded, "That’s right. That’s right. There wasn't one person in Sylvia's who was screaming, 'M-Fer, I want more iced tea".[91][92][93]

O'Reilly also said, "I think that black Americans are starting to think more and more for themselves, getting away from the Sharptons and the Jacksons and people trying to lead them into a race-based culture. They're just trying to figure it out. 'Look, I can make it. If I work hard and get educated, I can make it.'"[94] Roland S. Martin of CNN said that the notion that black people are just now starting to value education is "ridiculous" and that the notion that black people let Sharpton or Jackson think for them is "nuts". He suggested that O'Reilly's view was "based upon a stereotype" and called on O'Reilly and others who think like him to "wake up".[95]

Karl Frisch, spokesman for Media Matters, said O'Reilly's comments were "ignorant and racially charged." O'Reilly responded in his Talking Points Memo that he believed that Media Matters took him out of context. He defended his comments by saying, "It was an attempt to tell the radio audience that there is no difference black, white, we’re all Americans. The stereotypes they see on television are not true."[96] O'Reilly said, "Media Matters distorted the entire conversation and implied I was racist for condemning racism."[97]

In an interview with Keith Olbermann, Eugene Robinson of The Washington Post said that O'Reilly's initial remarks were "casually racist" and that O'Reilly's attempts to cast himself as the victim of a smear campaign were disingenuous.[98] On Morning Joe, Willie Geist said that, contrary to O'Reilly's position, "The more context you hear, the worse it gets." Geist also said that O'Reilly might not understand the nature of his comments or why they would spark controversy.[99]

On the Huffington Post blog, author Earl Ofari Hutchinson wrote that the comments "looked and sounded dumb and racist", but O'Reilly "didn't say anything that was earth shatteringly offensive" or anything that others might not say in private.[100] Also on the Huffington Post, Eric Deggans, chairman of the Black Journalists Media Monitoring Committee, said that O'Reilly's history of using racially charged rhetoric suggests that he stereotyped black people as "either vocal protesters like Sharpton and Jesse Jackson or straight-up thugs like N.W.A." Deggans said that he found it unfortunate that it "took a lunch with Al Sharpton" for O'Reilly to realize otherwise.[101]

Juan Williams said the criticism of O'Reilly was “rank dishonesty” and that the original comments "had nothing to do with racist ranting by anybody except by these idiots at CNN."[102] Williams went on to say it was "frustrating" that the media try to criticize anyone who wanted to have an honest discussion about race.[92]

On the Today show, host Matt Lauer said, "I thought Bill O'Reilly was saying that we should not be surprised." He said O'Reilly's point is that "the small group of people" who think that certain rappers represent all African Americans "need to get out and live life a little bit". Lauer later speculated that O'Reilly would want to get "a do-over" and phrase his comments differently.[103]

Following the controversy, Jesse Jackson made his first appearance on the O'Reilly Factor.[104] Jackson asked O'Reilly what he had intended by his comments and said that "to underestimate the civility of black people was offensive" but that the controversy over O'Reilly's remarks had obscured other, more important issues.[105]

[edit] "Lynching party" comment

During the February 19, 2008 edition of The Radio Factor, O'Reilly dedicated the program to a discussion about a sound bite of Barack Obama's wife, Michelle, who had said at a campaign rally, "For the first time in my adult life, I am really proud of my country.” O'Reilly questioned whether Mrs. Obama loved her country and, in response to a caller's comment that she did not, said "I don't want to go on a lynching party against Michelle Obama unless there's evidence."[106][107][108][109] Columnist Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post criticized O'Reilly for his remarks. "There's certainly nothing at all funny or remotely appropriate about the use of a lynching reference to talk about Michelle Obama," he said. "It's -- I'm almost speechless."[110] On his February 21 broadcast of The O'Reilly Factor, O'Reilly said, "I'm sorry if my statement offended anybody."[111]

[edit] Barney Frank

O'Reilly was criticized for his conduct during an October 2, 2008 interview with Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank.[112][113] Frank appeared on the O'Reilly Factor to respond to O'Reilly's criticism of him for the ongoing financial crisis. O'Reilly had blamed Frank and others for the crisis, said he wanted to punch him and called him a "big, fat toad."[114] When Frank began to explain his past actions regarding Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, O'Reilly interrupted, began yelling at Frank, and called him a "coward." Various media critics have described O'Reilly's conduct of the interview as bullying and "aggressive stupidity",[115] "unhinged,"[116] and said that O'Reilly "appeared determined to talk over Frank and shout him down, preventing any clear take on whether -- or to what degree -- Frank is actually responsible for the problems with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, or whether O'Reilly was merely looking for a scapegoat to blame for the lost millions of investors."[115] Frank responded by asking O'Reilly to stop yelling, said O'Reilly's behavior was "boorish" and that his "stupidity" prevented rational discussion of the issue.[117][118] After the incident, O'Reilly suggested that his yelling at Frank was an act of political theater to make the point that Frank was a "villain."[119]

[edit] Disputed claims involving the "War on Christmas"

Media Matters for America has criticized what O'Reilly calls the "War on Christmas." Media Matters posted several reports on their website with links to news articles from Michigan’s WNEM-TV, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette,[120] and the Washington Post,[121] as well as one retraction by O’Reilly himself[122] noting that several of O'Reilly’s allegations to support his theory were either false or inaccurate.[123][124] Media Matters also published a December 3, 2004 exchange on O'Reilly's radio show in which O'Reilly told a Jewish caller that "if you are really offended (by Christmas celebrations in public schools), you gotta go to Israel." [125]

[edit] Likening Helen Thomas to a "witch"

During coverage of President Barack Obama's first prime-time press conference, O'Reilly referred to veteran White House correspondent Helen Thomas as the "old lady" and likened her to the "wicked witch of the east."(sic)[126] Bonnie Erbe of US News and World Report called O'Reilly's remarks "ugly, petty and hateful." The Womens Media Center called O'Reilly's comments sexist and ageist and called on him to apologize.[127] O'Reilly defended his remarks and said that his critics were being used by the "far left."[128]

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