Does it ever end? Everyday it seems that our 'prestigious' media figures find some way to create a new low in journalism. The latest one to do so is the so-called journalist Bill O'Reilly.
The backdrop to this story begins with a poll done by the Project for Excellence in Journalism. When studying the coverage of the Iraq War, they found that Fox 'News' ranked far behind both CNN and MSNBC in coverage in the first quarter of this year. Ironic considering that this is the same network that provided non-stop wall to wall coverage of this back in 2003. Now that the war is not so popular, well...silence. In fact, Fox 'News' gave Anna Nicole Smith twice the coverage that Iraq received. Try explaining that to one of the soldiers sweating it out today.
Anyways, back to the story. On his radio program, Bill O'Reilly had the usual tired excuses ready. He denounced what he called the Project for Excellence in Left Wing Journalism and called their study nothing more than an attempt to embarrass Bush. Oh the horror! He went on to say:
"Now the reason that CNN and MSNBC do so much Iraq reporting is because they want to embarrass the Bush administration. Both do. And all their reporting consists of is here’s another explosion. Bang. Here’s more people dead. Bang. […]
They’re not doing it to inform anybody about anything. The terrorists are going to set off a bomb every day because they know CNN and MSNBC are going to put it on the air. That’s a strategy for the other side. The terrorist side. So I’m taking an argument that CNN and MSNBC are actually helping the terrorists by reporting useless explosions.
Do you care if another bomb went off in Tikrit? Does it mean anything? No! It doesn’t mean anything".
Listen here.
It doesn't mean anything? No big deal? Try telling that to the Iraqi people who live this tragedy day after day. This is madness! To allow some nut job a spot on national airwaves during prime time to spout such insane rants and dismiss the actual reporting of the reality of what is happening in Iraq today as nothing more than an attempt to embarrass a political figure is pathetic. Anytime this crowd sees that their reality is falling apart, they resort to name-calling and ridiculous accusations but never really address the issue. They always portray themselves as the ‘victim’ of some grand conspiracy. And to think that they are the ones who for years have decried Liberals as always portraying the victim. Funny, huh?
Oh, and we must not forget these famous quotes from O’Reilly himself way back in 2003:
"I will bet you the best dinner in the gaslight district of San Diego that military action will not last more than a week. Are you willing to take that wager?"
(Fox News Channel's Bill O'Reilly, 1/29/03)
"It won't take weeks. You know that, professor. Our military machine will crush Iraq in a matter of days and there's no question that it will."
(Fox News Channel's Bill O'Reilly, 2/10/03)
"There's no way. There's absolutely no way. They may bomb for a matter of weeks, try to soften them up as they did in Afghanistan. But once the United States and Britain unleash, it's maybe hours. They're going to fold like that."
(Fox News Channel's Bill O'Reilly, 2/10/03)
And this is the guy that supposedly has the top rated cable ‘news’ show? Sigh......
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