Bill O'Reilly

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Bill O'Reilly (2010)

William James "Bill" O'Reilly, Jr. [ oʊˈɹaɪlɪ ] (born September 10, 1949 in New York City ) is an American television presenter. From 1996 to 2017 he was the presenter of the American television show The O'Reilly Factor on Fox News Channel . He also hosted the radio show The Radio Factor , which was broadcast nationwide on talk radio stations until 2009. As an author, he writes a newspaper column and has published more than a dozen books, including numerous bestsellers.

Career

Since 1973 O'Reilly studied at Boston University and earned a Master of Arts in radio and television journalism. From September 1995 a Master of Public Administration at Harvard Kennedy School followed .

The O'Reilly Factor (Fox News Channel)

For years, Bill O'Reilly hosted 'The O'Reilly Factor', the flagship of “Fox News” and one of the most watched programs among US news channels ( CNN , Fox News , MSNBC , HLN ). The program dealt mainly with opinions on current issues; the reporting was rather in the background. Certain issues were taken up repeatedly. The one-hour format was divided into several segments, with O'Reilly always starting the program with his own commentary. One or two guests were added to most of the topics to debate with O'Reilly or another guest. Fox News used a variety of returning experts, columnists, and political veterans. The show did not belong to the news division of the station, but was declared as an "opinion show".

The talk radio show "The Radio Factor" was produced with O'Reilly from 2002 to 2009 by Fox News Radio and was widely distributed in the US via Westwood One .

Moderation style

The entertainment value of the O'Reilly Factor thrived heavily on O'Reilly's confident interview style. He often tried to embarrass his guests with tricky questions or to push them into an ideological corner. With like-minded interviewees, O'Reilly tried to raise his profile with potential questions of opposing opinion. As is common in the genre, O'Reilly often raised his voice to get a point across. In the overall picture, the show had a polarizing effect. O'Reilly divided the world into good and evil, which was a great entertainment for supporters of any political camp.

Audience ratings

The 'Factor' suffered from falling audience ratings up until 2015 and, as a result, from an aging audience (the average age of its viewers is 71 according to competitor MSNBC ); "Fox News" also confirmed that most of its viewers belong to the "65plus" category. Since 2015, the ratings have increased again, which observers also attributed to the support of O'Reilly and his station for Donald Trump . Still, Fox split from O'Reilly in April 2017.

Podcast

After his release, Bill O'Reilly started a podcast with moderate success and made an occasional appearance on Glenn Beck's radio show.

Typical / recurring topics

  • Status of Child Protection Laws in U.S. States ('Jessica's Law')
  • 'War of Cultures' in the USA, titled as left-wing liberalism against traditionalists
  • Iraq war
  • Fight against terrorism
  • National security and the curtailment of public freedoms
  • Doubtful judgments (especially those with a low sentence)
  • Illegal immigrants
  • alleged left-wing opinion-making in the mainstream US media (in particular, O'Reilly highlights the New York Times and NBC )
  • Stars and starlets in the headlines and / or legal battles

Content / opinions

Mostly O'Reilly represents opinions from the bourgeois-conservative camp, whereby he often describes himself as a representative for the little man ("I'm looking out for you" or "I am a simple man" are recurring sentences).

Classification in the US political spectrum

O'Reilly describes himself as politically independent. Nevertheless, he tends to be conservative and calls himself a “fiscal conservative”. A few weeks before the “mid-term elections” in 2006, he devoted three consecutive programs to an interview with George W. Bush , which corresponds to a net airtime of two hours (his one-hour programs, minus advertising, have a net airtime of about 40 minutes).

Contrary and populist opinion on marginal issues

Occasionally, however, he takes positions that diverge from the Bush administration and the Republican Party, but his opponents often accuse him of right-wing populism. I.a. He called for a boycott of Exxon Mobil "in the interests of the common man" as the winners of the crisis from the ever-increasing oil and thus also gasoline prices, while the energy companies are one of the most important financiers of the Republicans and, through Vice President Dick Cheney, have a major influence on politics the Bush administration. In other questions, such as B. immigration , he represents seemingly simplified and sometimes racist positions.

US culture debate

In particular, he addresses the “ clash of cultures ” of its own, which he explains in his permanently advertised book Culture Warrior . O'Reilly uses particular energy in his criticism of people he describes as "secular progressives". Under this term he summarizes a group of people who stand for values ​​that conflict with him: same-sex relationships, organized promotion of minorities ( affirmative action , which he rejects in its current form), from O'Reilly's point of view, inappropriately demanding civil rights (especially the civil rights organization ACLU ), Multilateralism (O'Reilly is hostile to the UN ), welfare state .

Christian Holidays

He tries to activate and emotionalize his audience by reporting on what he calls the War On Christmas and calls for a boycott of companies that are secularizing Christmas, for example through the greeting "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas". He also takes the view that the Vatican is anti-American. In part, he successfully reflects moods in selected population groups in the USA.

War in Iraq

Like the entire Fox-News broadcaster, O'Reilly represents neoconservative foreign policy positions. He advocates an aggressive “ war on terror ” policy and an interventionist foreign policy and was one of the most determined supporters of the Iraq war of 2003. In connection with the latter war, O'Reilly promised on March 18, 2003: “If the Americans Saddam Overthrow Hussein and he turns out to be clean, he has nothing (note: no weapons of mass destruction ), I will apologize to my nation and never trust the Bush administration again. ”Later on February 10, 2004, O'Reilly replied When asked to keep his promise: “My analysis was wrong and I am sorry. I was wrong. I'm very dissatisfied with that .. I'm much more skeptical of the Bush administration now than I was then. ”O'Reilly, however, continued to make supportive comments on the Iraq war, even though he often criticized the execution of the war. He criticized the Washington Post for its criticism of crimes by US soldiers in Iraq as a left-wing rubric.

In 2012, during an interview with Jon Stewart on The Rumble television show, O'Reilly stated that the Iraq war had been a mistake. He stated verbatim: “We shouldn't have gone to Iraq. But we had to go to Afghanistan ”.

death penalty

Although Bill O'Reilly frequently claims that he is a staunch opponent of the death penalty, he often adds that he is mainly because in some cases an execution seems too humane to him. Instead, he prefers to have inmates found guilty of murder, terrorism or drug trafficking do heavy labor in Alaska labor camps with bread and water. He wants to sanction refusals to work with food deprivation or solitary confinement.

Exploitation of niche topics

Although officially a high-quality political program, less serious subjects such as violent crime and the “rich and famous” often take up a large part of the airtime. By his own admission, O'Reilly leaves common news topics to traditional programs without irritation.

Intelligent design

On the occasion of an interview with the evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins , he called his demand not to allow creationist ideas in state biology classes, fascism .

Compulsory health insurance

Bill O'Reilly regards the compulsory health insurance introduced by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act under President Barack Obama as a " socialist " instrument and argues that compulsory insurance could hinder job creation. Elsewhere, O'Reilly has given positive appreciation to individual aspects of the healthcare reform.

Nelson Mandela

In an obituary, O'Reilly described the late South African freedom fighter and President Nelson Mandela as a communist.

abortion

Bill O'Reilly - although he does not advocate a general ban on abortion - is generally critical of abortion and supported some measures to restrict abortion. He supported California Proposition 73 , a bill that would have required prior parental consent for abortions in underage girls. O'Reilly is also a staunch supporter of a ban on partial birth abortions - a form of abortion for late pregnancy fetuses in which the fetus is pulled out of the cervical canal with a pair of pliers and a surgical instrument poked a hole in the back of the head through which the brain is suctioned off via a catheter. This form of abortion was banned in the United States by the 2003 Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act for fetuses in the 2nd and 3rd trimester.

Criticism and controversy

O'Reilly is at the center of much controversy. O'Reilly, his show and Fox News are often criticized for failing to live up to the show's own claim and subtitle (" The No-Spin Zone "). “The no-spin zone” could be translated as the Tacheles area. The name refers to O'Reilly's claim not to let politicians get away with idle talk. ("Answer the question. Yes or no?")

Right-wing experts

Like other programs on Fox News, it is often criticized that O'Reilly's program invites right-wing politicians and media representatives.

Factual errors

Doubts about the factual accuracy of O'Reilly's broadcasts are repeatedly expressed, and several websites (which ones ?) Refer to inaccuracies that are often perceived as manipulation. The website Media Matters , which is exclusively geared towards conservative spin- offs , regularly reports on partisan representations and inaccuracies by "Fox News Channel" and the O'Reilly Factor. O'Reilly protests against this and accuses Media Matters of a dirty campaign, but he rejects all offers from Media Matters to let employees come on the show to discuss the allegations.

In 2015, shortly after the liberal news anchor Brian Williams had to admit that he had retrospectively dramatized his experiences as an Iraq war correspondent, the left-liberal magazine Mother Jones published some inconsistencies regarding O'Reilly's memories of the Falklands War in 1982. Also individual accounts of his experiences in other (civil) wars are considered exaggerated.

Alleged terrorist threat

O'Reilly's statement that he was on the al-Qaeda death lists caused some ridicule. It was pointed out that neither an anti-terrorism expert nor a colleague from the company's own station could be found who could confirm this statement. It came while FBI -Agenten to Fox News, but the reason was the kidnapping of two reporters of the radio station in Iraq.

Moderation style

O'Reilly's lack of restraint in the choice of words and presentation is also criticized. So was z. B. Hillary Clinton shown in a preview clip next to a picture of the devil. He also suggested ("ironically," as he later explained) that Al-Qaeda should carry out an attack on the Coit Tower in San Francisco and that there should be no national support; O'Reilly's anger was caused by a referendum in San Francisco that banned the military from enrolling in public high schools and colleges . With NBC News and MSNBC cautiously criticizing the policies of the Bush administration, O'Reilly claims that NBC (his former employer) wants a defeat in Iraq. O'Reilly also alleged that underage Shawn Hornbeck, who was kidnapped and allegedly sexually assaulted, made no attempt to escape in the four years of his involuntary imprisonment because of his life with television and computer games and without going to school birth parents (and that the so-called Stockholm Syndrome does not exist).

Occasionally, when guests have contrary opinions, O'Reilly becomes uncontrolled and downright loud or, in a few cases, lets them turn off the microphone. He likes to use a “shut up” that he has used up to 200 times in ten years (source: Jack Shafer from Slate.com ), although it should not be left unmentioned that the phrase “Ahh, shut up” is used in English. can also mean "Oh stop, nobody believes you". Disconnected microphones have a certain "tradition" in his programs. Among other things, he had the microphone of his co-host Lis Wiehl switched off on his radio show The Radio Factor after he had misunderstood her, in the O'Reilly Factor he had the microphone of the journalist and university professor Jane Hall, who regularly appears on "Fox News", turn off the microphone when she accused him of one-sidedness in the evaluation of hateful entries in blogs.

Hot temper

O'Reilly is notorious for his irascibility "famous" (see under moderation style). A decade-old recording from the times when he reported daily on gossip on NBC's Inside Edition caused plenty of ridicule . When there were problems with the text on the teleprompter, O'Reilly lost control completely and yelled at his colleagues in such a way that some words could not be reproduced on US TV. After the Canadian music producer deadmau5 made this TV clip into a song and played it live worldwide, the corresponding YouTube video received millions of views worldwide.

Adversary Al Franken

Al Franken , former “ Saturday Night Live ” comedian and former Senator from Minnesota , revealed on his broadcast on The Sundance Channel, based on the original ABC interview and a post from the O'Reilly Factor, that an interview with Democratic Senator Joe Biden cut and its content was obviously deliberately misrepresented.

Franken, who had many more arguments with O'Reilly, also uncovered several incorrect statements in his biography. Bill O'Reilly, according to his own statement, a voter without ties to a party ( Independent ) in the "political center" ("a centrist"), ticked " Republicans " in his registration as a voter . When this became known, he changed it, claiming that it would not have been possible to register as an independent . However, Al Franken was able to substantiate his testimony by having a copy of O'Reilly's voter registration. O'Reilly likes to adorn himself with coming out of the "working class" and having become a prominent media personality through "hard work". As Al Franken showed, however, O'Reilly attended a private high school and grew up in a "better area". The many incorrect statements in his biography also include the alleged two peabodies for his work as a presenter of NBC's tabloid magazine Inside Edition . In fact, Inside Edition received a (slightly less prestigious) Polk Award - a year after O'Reilly left the show.

O'Reilly never mentions Franken by name in his shows, only Stuart Smelly - after his most successful and best-known role on Saturday Night Live . Economic turbulence at the left-wing liberal Air America Radio, where Al Franken hosted a talk show ( The O'Franken Factor , The Al Franken Show ), O'Reilly reported with great pleasure. O'Reilly would also like to "take care of" Franken. He bragged about it to O'Reilly Factor staff . This detail came to light when he was sued in 2004 for the sexual harassment of an employee who recorded O'Reilly's phantasies and handed them over to the prosecution. He threatened her that, thanks to his influence, he would “finish off” her right into the White House, just as he would “finish off” Al Franken.

The Colbert Report - a parody

O'Reilly's style was parodied by Stephen Colbert on the satirical news / opinion show " The Colbert Report " on Comedy Central , in which Colbert sometimes referred to "papa bear" O'Reilly with ironic respect.

Fake "Swedish Security Advisor"

US President Donald Trump spoke on February 18, 2017 in a speech about an alleged event in Sweden that shows that the country cannot cope with the refugee crisis. There had been no such event in Sweden. The Swedish Embassy in Washington requested a White House explanation of the allegation. O'Reilly took the debate as an opportunity to interview a man on his show who was featured as "Nils Bildt, Swedish defense and national security advisor". This confirmed Trump's presentation of the situation in Sweden. Johan Wiktorin, a former advisor to the Swedish military security service MUST , said he had never heard from a man named Nils Bildt, who was unknown in Sweden. Research by Dagens Nyheter revealed that Nils Bildt was previously called Nils Tolling, emigrated from Sweden to the USA in 1994, registered various companies there, had a criminal record and had never had anything to do with Swedish security circles.

Sexual harassment

In early April 2017, the New York Times reported that Fox News and O'Reilly had paid US $ 13 million in hush money to five women who had accused him of sexual harassment. The 21st Century Fox , parent company of Fox News Channel, then announced on April 19, 2017 the separation from O'Reilly. O'Reilly later stated that he saw himself as the victim of a liberal smear campaign and announced in September 2017 that he would be able to produce evidence of his innocence; he has so far owed this.

Publications

  • Those Who Trespass . Bancroft Press, 1998, ISBN 0-9631246-8-4 .
  • The O'Reilly Factor: The Good, the Bad, and the Completely Ridiculous in American Life . Broadway Books, 2000, ISBN 0-7679-0528-8 . (# 1 on the New York Times' non-fiction book list)
  • The no spin zone . Broadway Books, 2001, ISBN 0-7679-0848-1 . (# 1 on the New York Times' non-fiction book list)
  • Who's Looking Out For You? Broadway Books, 2003, ISBN 0-7679-1379-5 . (# 1 on the New York Times' non-fiction book list)
  • with Charles Flowers. The O'Reilly Factor For Kids: A Survival Guide for America's Families. Harper Entertainment, 2004, ISBN 0-06-054424-4 .
  • Culture warrior . Broadway Books, 2006, ISBN 0-7679-2092-9 . (# 1 on the New York Times' non-fiction book list)
  • Kids Are Americans Too . William Morrow, 2007, ISBN 0-06-084676-3 .
  • A Bold Fresh Piece of Humanity: A Memoir . Broadway Books, 2008, ISBN 0-7679-2092-9 .
  • Pinheads and Patriots: Where You Stand in the Age of Obama , 2010, William Morrow. ISBN 0-06-195071-8 .
  • with Martin Dugard: Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination that Changed America Forever . Henry Holt and Co, New York 2011, ISBN 0-8050-9307-9 .
  • with Dwight Jon Zimmerman: Lincoln's Last Days: The Shocking Assassination that Changed America Forever . Henry Holt and Co, New York 2012, ISBN 978-0-8050-9675-0 .
  • with Martin Dugard: Killing Kennedy: The End of Camelot . Henry Holt and Co, New York 2012, ISBN 978-0-8050-9666-8 .
  • Kennedy's Last Days: The Assassination That Defined a Generation . Henry Holt and Co, New York 2013, ISBN 978-0-8050-9802-0 .
  • Keep It Pithy: Useful Observations in a Tough World . Crown Archetype, 2013, ISBN 978-0-385-34662-7 .
  • with Martin Dugard: Killing Jesus: A History . Henry Holt and Co, New York 2013
  • The Last Days of Jesus: His Life and Times . Henry Holt and Co, New York 2014, ISBN 978-0-8050-9877-8 .
  • with Martin Dugard: Killing Patton: The Strange Death of World War II's Most Audacious General . Henry Holt and Co, New York 2014, ISBN 978-0-8050-9668-2 .
  • with David Fisher: Bill O'Reilly's Legends and Lies: Into the West . Henry Holt and Co, New York 2015
  • Hitler's Last Days: The Death of the Nazi Regime and the World's Most Notorious Dictator . Henry Holt and Co, New York 2015, ISBN 978-1-62779-396-4 .
  • with Martin Dugard: Killing Reagan: The Violent Assault That Changed a Presidency . Henry Holt and Co, New York 2015.
  • with Martin Dugard: Killing the Rising Sun: How America Vanquished World War II Japan . Henry Holt and Co, New York 2016.
  • with Martin Dugard: Killing England: The Brutal Struggle for American Independence . Henry Holt and Co, New York 2017.

Audio books

Documentation

literature

Web links

Commons : Bill O'Reilly  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The Radio Factor
  2. Marvin Kitman: The Man Who Would Not Shut Up: The Rise of Bill O'Reilly. St. Martin's Griffin, New York City 2007, ISBN 978-0-312-31435-4 , p. 150
  3. 'Talking Points' memo ( Memento from October 26, 2006 in the Internet Archive )
  4. Commentator uses name-calling more than once every seven seconds in 'Talking Points Memo'
  5. Overstating The O'Reilly Factor's viewership nearly threefold, O'Reilly claimed to have "6 million people watching me every night" ( Memento from May 21, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  6. MSNBC's Star Carves Anti-Fox Niche
  7. O'Reilly's interview with Bush: Softball questions, misleading assertions, and attacks on Democrats ( Memento of May 21, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  8. ^ Bill O'Reilly's Exclusive Interview with President Bush
  9. Talking Points Memo: "Gas prices up, approval ratings down" ( Memento from June 22, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  10. Stock Pick of the Week: ExxonMobil ( Memento of May 7, 2006 in the Internet Archive )
  11. ^ O'Reilly's Racist Slurs - in Context
  12. ^ Culture Warrior (Google Books)
  13. ^ O'Reilly and the Secular Progressives ( Memento of May 21, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  14. ( Page no longer available , search in web archives: Fox News: O'Reilly about traditional marriageInfo: The link was automatically marked as broken. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.foxnews.com  
  15. ^ O'Reilly, Bill: Affirmative action, negative reaction. Retrieved June 30, 2003 .
  16. mediamatters: "O'Reilly advocates flooding of the UN building in New York" ( Memento from September 17, 2005 in the Internet Archive )
  17. ^ O'Reilly, Bill: French whine. Retrieved April 3, 2006 .
  18. US Christmas: Merry Christmas - otherwise it'll be something!
  19. FOX hypes stories to claim "Christmas Under Siege"
  20. ^ O'Reilly: "The Vatican has to wise up or shut up" ( Memento from September 26, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  21. ^ A b "Bill O'Reilly's 'Apology': Still Spinning in the 'No Spin Zone'" ( Memento June 12, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) by Peter Hart, Common Dreams NewsCenter, February 25, 2004.
  22. "Devil in the Details: He Is the Eggman" ( Memento from November 16, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) by Heidi Pauken in, The American Prospect from March 1, 2004.
  23. ^ "My Bad: 25 Years of Public Apologies and the Appalling Behavior That Inspired Them" by Paul Slansky and Arleen Sorkin, Flak Magazine .
  24. Bill O'Reilly vs. Jon Stewart: 10 best moments from online 'Rumble' - Entertainment
  25. The extremely polite Richard Dawkins answers stupid questions from Bill O'Reilly - YouTube
  26. ^ Matthias Kolb: Discussion about central issues of politics . Debate between Jon Stewart and Bill O'Reilly. In: US election blog . October 7, 2012.
  27. Erik Wemple : Fox News's Bill O'Reilly flunks Obamacare 101
  28. ^ Cheryl K. Chumley: Bill O'Reilly reminds: Nelson Mandela 'was a communist' . In: The Washington Times . December 6, 2013 ( online ).
  29. ^ O'Reilly, Bill: Election Day, 2005 , FOX News. November 9, 2005. 
  30. ^ O'Reilly, Bill: Kansas and Abortion , FOX News. June 18, 2007. 
  31. Progressives factored out: The O'Reilly Factor dominated by Republicans, conservatives ( Memento from August 31, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
  32. O'Reilly calls Media Matters "assassins" and "the worst" among "most vicious" political websites ( Memento of October 7, 2005 in the Internet Archive )
  33. David Corn and Daniel Schulman: The Fox News host still hasn't gotten back to us, but here's his monologue — factchecked.
  34. ^ Bill O'Reilly cites conflicts that he witnessed. How much of that is true? - The Washington Post
  35. O'Reilly claimed to be on Al Qaeda "death list," but that's news to FBI, others at Fox News
  36. Bill O'Reilly The Baron Munchausen Of Cable News?
  37. Captors Release Two FOX News Journalists Kidnapped in Gaza Aug. 14
  38. A picture's worth a thousand words
  39. ^ O'Reilly to San Francisco: "If Al Qaeda comes in here and blows you up, we're not going to do anything about it. ... you want to blow up the Coit Tower? Go ahead"
  40. Bill O'Reilly Hates SF ( November 11, 2006 memento in the Internet Archive )
  41. ^ Scarborough slams O'Reilly for calling NBC the anti-Bush network. ( Memento from July 4, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  42. Bill O'Reilly blames the victim – for shame… ( Memento of March 10, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  43. ^ Olbermann: Why does O'Reilly still have a job? ( Memento from May 21, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  44. O'Reilly ordered Wiehl's mike cut after mishearing her on US attorney issue
  45. O'Reilly cuts Hall's mic to get the last word about BilloReilly.com's HATE comments ( Memento of February 16, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
  46. Bill O'Reilly Flips Out ( Memento from May 13, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  47. Bill O'Reilly SLANDERS Senator Joe Biden - Al Franken Exposes
  48. Bill O'Reilly's Republican voter registration
  49. ^ Al Franken and the Lying Liars
  50. ^ George Polk Awards for Journalism
  51. O'Reilly Hit With Sex Harass Suit - Female Fox coworker details lewd behavior of cable TV star
  52. nytimes.com: 'Last Night in Sweden'? Trump's Remark Baffles a Nation
  53. Fake Sweden expert on Fox News - has criminal convictions in US, no connection to Swedish security - DN.SE . In: DN.SE . February 24, 2017 ( dn.se [accessed February 25, 2017]).
  54. kkl: Sexual harassment - Fox extended contract with moderator O'Reilly despite being aware of new allegations. In: nzz.ch. October 23, 2017. Retrieved May 21, 2018 .
  55. Marc Pitzke: Fox News Star Bill O'Reilly: The inglorious fall of the cable king. In: Spiegel Online . April 20, 2017. Retrieved May 21, 2018 .
  56. mja / AP / dpa: Allegation of sexual harassment: Fox News separates from star presenter Bill O'Reilly. In: Spiegel Online . April 19, 2017. Retrieved May 21, 2018 .