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Bill O'Reilly (political commentator)

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William James "Bill" O'Reilly, Jr. (born September 10 1949) is the host of a popular American cable television news analysis program, The O'Reilly Factor on the FOX News Channel. O'Reilly also hosts a radio program syndicated by Westwood One called The Radio Factor and has authored five books, one of which is a novel. Recently, he has voiced concern about what he sees as the harmful influence of gangsta rap on children, the mismanagement of charity funds for September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks victims, and the alleged liberal bias of The New York Times and other media outlets.

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Bill O'Reilly

Personal background

O'Reilly was born in Manhattan, New York to William and Angela O'Reilly, from Brooklyn and Bergen County, New Jersey respectively. His father was an oil company accountant and his mother was a homemaker. He and his family moved to the Levittown planned community located in Nassau County on Long Island when he was a toddler. O'Reilly's only sibling, a younger sister named Janet, is a nurse.

An Irish Catholic, O'Reilly attended Chaminade High School, an all-male Marianist school in Mineola, New York. While there, he played goalie and wing on the ice hockey team, and also was on the football, basketball, and baseball teams. A baseball player since age 7, he was New York Mets ball boy (known then as the "Midget Mets") during his childhood. He was a lifeguard and gave swimming lessons during the summer.

After graduating from Chaminade in 1967, O'Reilly advanced to Marist College, a small, co-educational private school in Poughkeepsie, New York. While at Marist, O'Reilly played quarterback, place kicker, and punter on the football team, and also was a columnist and features writer for the school's newspaper, The Circle.[1] As an honors student majoring in history, he spent his junior year of college abroad, attending Queen Mary College at the University of London.[2] He also played semi-professional baseball during this time as a pitcher for the Brooklyn Monarchs, leading him to try out to play for the Mets. O'Reilly received his Bachelor of Arts in 1971.

O'Reilly married Maureen McPhilmy, a public relations executive, in 1995. The couple has one daughter, Madeline, born in 1998, and a son, Spencer, born in 2003. Since approximately 2001, O'Reilly has not discussed his family publicly due to security concerns, including past death threats.

Early career

After graduating from Marist, Bill O'Reilly moved to Miami, Florida, where he taught English and history at a Jesuit high school for two years. After leaving Miami, O'Reilly returned to school, earning a Masters in Broadcast Journalism from Boston University in 1976. While attending BU, he was a reporter and columnist for various local newspapers and alternative news weeklies, including the Boston Phoenix. O'Reilly did his broadcast journalism internship in Miami during this time, and was also an entertainment writer and movie reviewer for the Miami Herald.

O'Reilly's early television news career included reporting and anchoring positions in Scranton; Dallas; Denver; Portland, Oregon; Hartford; and Boston. He also reported the weather for a brief period when he first started his career in Scranton.[3] In 1980, he anchored his own program on WCBS-TV in New York and later became a CBS News correspondent. While at CBS News, O'Reilly covered the wars in the Falkland Islands and El Salvador, amongst others. During his stints in Dallas and Denver, he won two Emmy Awards for journalistic excellence. In 1986, O'Reilly joined ABC News as a correspondent on ABC World News Tonight. In three years, he appeared on the show over one hundred times, receiving two National Headliner Awards for excellence in reporting.

Some of O'Reilly's stints at local news stations did not go well, especially when it came to his relationships with management and other on-air talent. Former coworkers have called him "obnoxious", "self-centered", "dishonest", and "paranoid." [4] At news bureaus and stations he worked for, O'Reilly frequently made what he has called "political mistakes" such as criticizing management decisions and story selections for news broadcasts that contributed to his leaving various positions along the way.

In 1989, O'Reilly joined the nationally syndicated Inside Edition, a tabloid television program (also known as "infotainment"). He started as senior correspondent and backup anchor for David Frost, but soon took over the anchor chair when the viewers found him more appealing. In addition to being one of the first broadcast journalists to cover the dismantling of the Berlin Wall, O'Reilly also obtained the first exclusive interview with murderer Joel Steinberg and was the first national anchor on the scene of the Los Angeles riots.

In 1995, O'Reilly left Inside Edition to enroll at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, where he received a Master's Degree in Public Administration. Upon leaving Harvard, Roger Ailes, chairman and CEO of the then startup FOX News Channel, hired O'Reilly to anchor The O'Reilly Report, which aired weeknights. The show was renamed to The O'Reilly Factor when it moved to a later time slot in 1998 since the host felt he was the main "factor" of the show.

The O'Reilly Factor

O'Reilly's television show The O'Reilly Factor, discusses political and social issues of the day with guests from a broad political spectrum. Some of the most influential politicians in America have been interviewed by O'Reilly on The Factor, including George W. Bush, who has nicknamed O'Reilly "Big O" and more recently "Factor".

Like many shows of its genre, notable among them Hardball with Chris Matthews and Tim Russert's programs, confrontation is a key ingredient to the show's successful formula, featuring fast-paced, agressive verbal sparring between O'Reilly and his guests. O'Reilly's combative challenges to what he sees as inconsistencies and weaknesses in his guest's arguments have led some opponents to brand him a "bully and a jerk."[5] While some dislike O'Reilly's interviewing style and persona, he has also attracted a loyal following of viewers who enjoy his no-nonsense, emotionally-charged style, as well as his self-described confrontational interviews. [6]

O'Reilly bills his show as a "no spin zone," frequently declaring that "the spin stops here". However, some argue that O'Reilly often challenges "spin" from guests more aggressively when they hold views opposing his own (see below for example views).

O'Reilly typically ends each episode by reading viewer e-mail. The mail read by O'Reilly is usually divided between viewers who either agree or disagree with his views. He claims to prefer mail sent in by viewers who disagree and often replies to their accusations and questions.

In 2001, The O'Reilly Factor passed Larry King Live to become the most watched cable news program in the United States. After the September 11, 2001 attacks, O'Reilly was honored by The National Academy of Arts and Sciences for his coverage and analysis of the events. He has also received praise from viewers and readers, most notably his being named the third most popular U.S. television personality of 2003 in a Harris Poll, behind Oprah Winfrey and David Letterman. [7] He led the voting among people over age 65, as well as Republicans. In 2004, readers of Men's Journal named him their third favorite news personality, behind Tom Brokaw and Peter Jennings and ahead of Dan Rather and Katie Couric.[8]

Political opinion

O'Reilly disagrees vehemently with the common belief that he is a conservative, preferring to call himself a traditionalist and a populist. In his book The O'Reilly Factor, he describes his political affiliation this way: "You might be wondering if whether I'm conservative, liberal, libertarian, or exactly what... See, I don't want to fit any of those labels, because I believe that the truth doesn't have labels. When I see corruption, I try to expose it. When I see exploitation, I try to fight it. That's my political position."

However, O'Reilly has acknowledged that from 1994 until December 2000, he was registered to vote as a Republican. He changed his voter registration from Republican to independent when the Washington Post was about to expose his party affiliation. Now a registered independent, O'Reilly has said his previously affiliation was the result of a clerical mistake which has since been corrected. "I've always been an independent," he says. "I always split my ticket. I vote for the person I think is best." [9]

Although O'Reilly emphasizes that he is an independent thinker, this claim is intensely disputed. Critics attest that O'Reilly has close ties to the Republican Party and other conservative groups. Besides his voter registration, O'Reilly's keynote speech at David Horowitz's conservative "Restoration Weekend" event, taking place at the Republican convention in Philadelphia, is occasionally brought up in support of this argument. However, O'Reilly claims that some of these appearances were inadvertent on his part, such as when U.S. Rep. Chris Shays asked him to speak at a charity benefit in Greenwich, Connecticut without telling him that it was for a Republican-backed cause.

Nevertheless, O'Reilly's opinions contain a mix of traditionally conservative, liberal and libertarian positions. Notably, his position on illegal immigration does not follow a traditional conservative standpoint; rather, it is based on protecting national security. Regarding embryonic stem cell research, O'Reilly believes that such programs are too controversial and objectionable to many citizens to approve federal funding for them. However, he also believes that private organizations should be allowed to persist with such research, especially with discarded embryos from fertility labs, even though he believes that it is a moral grey area.

A viewer once wrote to give O'Reilly a rough statistical analysis of his political viewpoints and found O'Reilly to take more conservative viewpoints roughly 60% of the time, more liberal viewpoints 30% of the time, and completely moderate viewpoints 10% of the time.

Traditionally conservative views

Traditionally liberal views

Traditionally libertarian views

Criticism and controversy

Disputes with individuals

O'Reilly has a long-standing dispute with left-wing comedian and political commentator Al Franken. This dispute reached its peak in 2003, when Franken published a book, Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right, featuring a photograph of O'Reilly on the cover and a full chapter about him (entitled "Bill O'Reilly: Lying, Splotchy Bully") within the book itself. The two had a heated argument over Franken's accusations and O'Reilly's purported lies at a bookseller's convention that was aired on national television via C-SPAN.[10]

In his book, Franken accuses O'Reilly of lying about and distorting facts and stories to make himself look better. For example, according to Franken, O'Reilly stated that the television show Inside Edition won two Peabody Awards for journalism, when it actually won the George Polk Award over a year after O'Reilly had left. O'Reilly first denied the misstatement, but then later corrected it. O'Reilly also claims that he corrected the statement on the air at least six times before Franken's book was released. Others have pointed out that O'Reilly was defending his old show, and not particularly accepting the awards for himself.

Fox News sued Franken for trademark infringement over the use of the phrase "fair and balanced" in the book's title. O'Reilly has consistently said that he was not involved in the lawsuit, though reports from several Fox News employees and insiders, including Roger Ailes, indicate that he was the driving force behind it. Once the case reached court, the presiding judge dismissed the lawsuit as "wholly without merit." 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.

In March 2004, Franken launched a radio talk-show named The O'Franken Factor on the Air America Radio network. Franken joked that he hoped O'Reilly would sue Air America for trademark infringement because it would generate publicity for Franken's new program. O'Reilly never publicly commented on Franken's choice of title and Franken renamed his program to The Al Franken Show in July 2004.

Franken, the Washington Post, and others have also claimed that O'Reilly did not grow up in Levittown, but instead in a more affluent neighboring village, Westbury. The source the Post used for their assertion was O'Reilly's mother, who at the time a profile of O'Reilly was published in 2000 still lived in O'Reilly's boyhood home. O'Reilly has indicated in interviews since the article was published, notably including his 2004 appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman, that his mother felt as though she was misinterpreted.

However, O'Reilly maintains that he grew up in the Westbury section of Levittown, a claim with room for interpretation, as commented on in an October 2003 article by the vice president of the Levittown Historical Society. [11] O'Reilly also points to the fact that he was not eligible to attend Westbury High School as evidence of his Levittown roots, since he did not live within the Westbury school district, however, in many cities, school district boundaries do not coincide with city limits.

In an interview in September of 2003, O'Reilly stated that while the section of Levittown he grew up in was formerly called Westbury, it is now called Salisbury. O'Reilly did confirm that the post office where mail was delivered when he was growing up was Westbury, although post office delivery boundaries often do not coincide with city limits. In April of 2004, O'Reilly released the deed to the house his parents bought on Long Island in 1951, which shows the address as being in Levittown, NY.

O'Reilly has criticized Bill Moyers, the host of NOW with Bill Moyers on PBS, on multiple broadcasts of The O'Reilly Factor, and Moyers has in turn accused O'Reilly of lying. In 2002, O'Reilly said Moyers called him a "warmonger," and also implied that Moyers was making money by selling videotapes of his program. The strongest accusation was that Moyers made contributions to the Columbia Journalism Review to "buy" the duPont-Columbia Award. Moyers responded in print that he never called O'Reilly a warmonger, that his share of distribution money from the show is minuscule, and that the Columbia Journalism Review doesn't pick the winner of the duPont-Columbia Award [12]. In 2003, O'Reilly criticized Bill Moyers again, saying that Moyers' position that taxes should be raised is "classic socialism" and that he "can't understand why Bill Moyers just doesn't move to Havana". [13]

Guest Jeremy Glick accused O'Reilly of using 9/11 to fit his own needs, and stated that President George H. W. Bush trained the Mujahideen in Afghanistan, suggesting the attacks would not have happened without the U.S. government's previous involvement with extremist militant groups. [14] He also referred to the "alleged assassinations" of 9/11 victims, something which did not sit well with the host and which O'Reilly still uses as his prime argument against Glick and his opinions. O'Reilly demanded that Glick "shut up, shut up," and asked the director to "cut his mic". O'Reilly apologized for the guest's behavior as soon as the show returned from a commercial break, saying he did not know Glick would present himself in such a manner [15].

Following his criticism of gangsta rap, O'Reilly accused Ludacris, and Pepsi who employed the rapper to advertise their cola, of targetting young people with inappropriate material. O'Reilly called for a boycott of Pepsi. Pepsi stopped the Ludacris advertisements, but Ludacris and some supporters, including Russell Simmons, accused Pepsi of racism and called for an African American boycott of Pepsi. When Ludacris signed a deal with Anheuser-Busch to endorse Budweiser, O'Reilly protested, although Budweiser is not marketed to children[16].

On October 13, 2004, O'Reilly sued former O'Reilly Factor producer Andrea Mackris for what he claimed was a politically motivated extortion attempt against him. He also sued her lawyer, Benedict P. Morelli, and Morelli's law firm for the same reason.[17] O'Reilly's lawsuit contended that Mackris had privately demanded more than $60 million (USD) to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit she was planning on filing against O'Reilly, Fox News, and Westwood One in court. A few hours after O'Reilly's lawsuit was filed, Mackris filed her own against O'Reilly for allegedly making sexually inappropriate comments to her.[18]

On October 19, Mackris filed an amended complaint, adding what she claimed were further details of O'Reilly's alleged sexual harassment. In addition to noting that O'Reilly had issued no formal denials, the complaint described actions allegedly taken against her by Fox and O'Reilly for the purpose of retaliation for filing her original complaint, and asked for additional damages. Fox News contended that Mackris was still on their payroll at the time her lawsuit was amended, and that she had not shown up for work for over two weeks and had stated she was not going to return at any point. They also moved to obtain the court's permission to fire Mackris without it appearing that they were retaliating, which would be illegal according to sexual harassment statutes.

On October 20, O'Reilly and Fox News petitioned the court, asking for any tapes Mackris had of the alleged conversations to be turned over.[19] The court agreed to meet on October 29 to decide whether or not the alleged tapes should be turned over to O'Reilly and his lawyers. However, the case was settled on October 28, 2004 before it ever reached the court, with both parties stating publicly that no wrong had been done by O'Reilly or Mackris, and that the terms of the settlement would remain private.[20] O'Reilly stated on Charlie Rose the next month that he had no interest in discussing the case further, and that he wanted everyone, including the press, to understand that the settlement indicated "O'Reilly did nothing wrong".

Criticism from organizations

Media criticism of O'Reilly, about both his politics and his style, has come most frequently from liberal and left-wing outlets such as Slate, Media Matters for America, and Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR), but conservative and right-wing outlets like AIM have criticized O'Reilly for much the same reasons. David Brock, president and CEO of Media Matters, recently called O'Reilly a "coward" for his refusal to invite Brock on his show after repeated criticisms of Brock and Media Matters. [21]

Some critics contend that O'Reilly often makes up facts and figures to support his points. FAIR, a left-leaning media watchdog group, published a book, The Oh Really? Factor, documenting alleged false accusations and inaccurate statements O'Reilly has made on his show. FAIR complains that O'Reilly distorts the news by framing it through his bias.[22] For example, after the Supreme Court ruled that public hospitals could not test pregnant women for drugs and send the results to the police without consent, O'Reilly said "Coming next, drug addicted pregnant women no longer have anything to fear from the authorities thanks to the Supreme Court. Both sides on this in a moment" (O'Reilly Factor, March 23, 2001).

During the 2000 election, O'Reilly suggested Al Gore was running "on a quasi-socialistic platform" with "work and production being supervised by the government." FAIR claims O'Reilly had been extremely tough on President Clinton during his tenure in office, but refrained from criticizing the Bush administration when it first entered office. "President Bush ran on the slogan 'reformer with results,'" he said, "That sounds good to me." However, this may be a personal bias, due to Al Gore's refusal to appear on his program. And O'Reilly has consistently argued against some of George W. Bush's policies, while defending many of Gore's ideals.

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. The boycott is focused on high-profile French products such as cheese, wine, cosmetics, and bottled water, in addition to French-owned companies conducting business in the U.S., such as Air France. [23]

Critics contend that that any effect the boycott has on France's $1.65 trillion (USD) GDP would be minimal. O'Reilly counters this by saying that French exports to America have declined significantly. State Rep. Mark B. Cohen of Philadelphia, a leading opponent of a proposal to legally ban the sale of French wine in Pennsylvania, appeared on The O'Reilly Factor on May 8, 2003, and expressed "surprise" that he received only favorable responses from O'Reilly's audience. "O'Reilly's ability to rally them for an anti-free trade position was clearly limited," he said. However, O'Reilly himself was opposed to legal bans on French products, saying he preferred citizen boycotts. "You might have convinced me," he told Cohen on the air.

On April 27, 2004, O'Reilly said on The Factor that the Paris Business Review stated that France had lost "millions of dollars", suggesting that this was because of his boycott. Subsequent investigations by various watchdog groups, specifically Media Matters, showed that there is no publication of that name in France. O'Reilly has since stated that it was a publication by a different name that he got the information from; however, he has not named this publication.

A little more than a year after his call for the boycott, O'Reilly stated that his claims regarding France's supposed financial problems were backed by U.S. government data. [24] However, statistics given by Media Matters show only a $288 million (USD), or 6%, drop in imports to the U.S. from France during the first two months of O'Reilly's boycott when compared to the same time period (March and April) of the previous year, and that even larger drops had occurred prior to O'Reilly's boycott. They also state that "it is meaningless to draw conclusions from only two months of data". [25]

Apology to the nation

Speaking on ABC's Good Morning America on 18 March, 2003, O'Reilly made the following promise: "If the Americans go in and overthrow Saddam Hussein and it's clean, he has nothing, I will apologize to the nation, and I will not trust the Bush administration again." In another appearance on the same program on 10 February 2004, O'Reilly responded to repeated requests for him to honor his pledge: "My analysis was wrong and I'm sorry. I was wrong. I'm not pleased about it at all." With regard to never again trusting the current U.S. government, he said, "I am much more skeptical of the Bush administration now than I was at that time."

Bibliography

Books by O'Reilly

  • Those Who Trespass: A Novel of Murder and Television (1998), ISBN 0963124684
  • The O'Reilly Factor: The Good, the Bad, and the Completely Ridiculous in American Life (2000), ISBN 0767905288
  • The No-Spin Zone: Confrontations with the Powerful and Famous in America (2001), ISBN 0767908481
  • Who's Looking Out for You (2003), ISBN 0767913795
  • The O'Reilly Factor for Kids: A Survival Guide for America's Families (2004), ISBN 0060544244

Books about O'Reilly

  • The Oh Really? Factor: Unspinning Fox News Channel's Bill O'Reilly (2003), ISBN 158322601X
 
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