Monday, February 23, 2015

Bill O'Reilly: hoist by his own petard … by gimleteye

Finally -- at long last -- a Fox News mainstay, Bill O'Reilly, is on the ropes for misstating the truth. It is the same offense for which he excoriated NBC News anchor Brian Williams. Now O'Reilly is raging against the report by Mother Jones and journalist David Corn that he lied about his war record as a journalist.

It is revealing to compare how NBC and Fox reacted to the twisting of the truth by their respective marquee newscasters.

NBC quickly and publicly analyzed Mr. William's transgressions and suspended Mr. Williams for six months without pay. Fox? Silent.

The difference? Deceit is baked into the Fox News business model. If one of its top actors is found fraudulent, the whole apparatus could come crumbling down. Why?

If Fox viewers can't trust Bill, who is next for them to mistrust: Rupert Murdoch or Roger Ailes? Turn off Fox News.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

No one has a clue as to what your are talking about.

Anonymous said...

There are many that are defending O by surmising that his deception does not rise to the level of Williams'. I suppose that is tacit admission that O was wrong.

The righties that are so addicted to the Fox News message cannot fathom that one of their darlings was wrong. These same people believe that Fox News is not a "mainstream liberal media" outlet. Instead, it is an alternative source of news. I don't understand this phenomenon of applauding a news outlet simply because they tell you what you want to hear instead of the facts.

O's "No Spin Zone" is a joke. He is a master of spin.

I don't know how this will all play out. Will it just go away or will there be more intense scrutiny of O's recollections of what did or didn't happen?

The problem is that Fox has successfully portrayed all the large broadcast network and print media outlets as liberal friendly. Their zombie followers discount most of what all of them say.

Anonymous said...

I'm no fan of O'Reilly or Fox News, and I think it is quite interesting the huge difference in how he is reacting to the allegations against him (scorched earth tactics) vs. how Brian Williams reacted (admitted the wrongdoing and accepted suspension without a word), however, I must point out that this post has one very important point wrong. O'Reilly did not excoriate Brian Williams when he was found out. In fact, O'Reilly publicly stuck up for Williams as seen at Huffington Post here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/10/bill-oreilly-brian-williams-jimmy-kimmel_n_6653428.html
and at Politico here: http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2015/02/bill-oreilly-defends-brian-williams-202381.html

Just the facts, please EOM.

Anonymous said...

Now I understand why BillO was so reasonable about not piling on Brian Williams.

He was probably sitting at his desk thinking--There but for the grace of God go I.

Anonymous said...

http://www.mediaite.com/online/corn-and-engberg-claims-about-oreilly-seem-politically-personally-motivated/

Too much Vitamin D acting upon Gimleteye. Might consider a foil hat.

Anonymous said...

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2015/02/23/david_corn_hangs_up_on_hugh_hewitt_after_45-minute_grilling_on_bill_oreilly.html