Bill O'Reilly, again, proves he's a shit head
Posted by: Matt McCormick | From: June 11, 2008
If you ever watch or listen to conservative Fox News commentator Bill O'Reilly, you probably know that he has a long list of people he believes are "hurting America" and who he feels must be called out and shamed. To do so he sends TV crews to ambush/interview these people; catching them off guard and aggressively questioning them while video-taping the whole thing. They then edit out little snippets of the unprepared "America Hater's" reactions and air clips that they feel both shame the person and prove that they are, in fact, a scourge to this great country.
Well, a funny thing happened a couple days ago. O'Reilly sent his goons after favorite target Bill Moyers at the National Conference for Media Reform and cornered the unsuspecting journalist and berated him with questions. Now Moyers handled himself just fine, said he expected O'Reilly to heavily edit the "interview" and issued a challenge to O'Reilly to come on his show for an un-edited, full hour debate. Ironically, one thing O'Reilly's crew forgot to think about was that there might be other journalists at this conference, journalists with cameras who might turn around and ambush the ambushers.
here is the unedited 'ambush' video-taped by journalists who do not work for Fox (be sure to watch to the end, it's classic)
and here is what wound up on O'Reilly's show. Heavily edited as Moyer's predicted, and suspiciously missing the segment where Moyer's offers the challenge for debate:
O'Reilly, being the fine journalist (and protector of America) that he is, does us all a great service by dissecting Moyer's body language, and his conclusion that Moyers is "rude and crazy and a scary fanatic" is perhaps one of the most insightful bits of information I have heard in years.
This demonstrates that O'Reilly and Fox have no idea what Journalism ( with a capital "J") is all about. Moyers is not some crazy guy, but a well respected and longtime journalist. Just as we have all come to learn all the saber-rattling about the war was really the craziness. We all need to hold Reilly, Fox News and the other blowhards that became administration mouthpieces accountable for the propaganda they perpetuated on the American Public. Thanks for sharing this! ... and go get 'em Bill Moyers -NOW!
Posted by: Warren Bechtolt Jr. at June 11, 2008 9:15 PM
News is not news, it is a business. It uses sensation to cut through the media clutter. News is about ratings. Different news outlets (FOX, PBS, MSNBC, Slate,..) deliver different demographics to their advertisers. They also tailor the news to the world view of their owners.
We are living in a weird world of tribal subcultures with different realities they get in from their tribal "news" sources. Makes democracy and just getting along harder.
Posted by: Rob at June 12, 2008 9:04 AM
Deep inside I might want to see O'Reilly splattered like a bug on my windsheild while driving along I90 at about 70 mph, but instead, I wish him well in the role that he plays in public media. Without O'Reilly's warped theatrics (and he is nothing more than a selfish, self-centerd actor on a stage that pays its actors too well)we might not know just how good a gentleman like Bill Moyers really is. We need the antics, often twisted and unfair, to act as a point of comparison and as precipitant for discussions such as we are having right now. What is more important than smashing O'Reilly on my windsheild is making sure that as many people as possible always see the unedited versions so that they can participate intelligently in these important conversations. So you go O'Reilly and I hope to see you splattered on Mr. Moyers windsheild in the near future.
Posted by: Dad at June 14, 2008 1:33 PM
As Keith Oberman said, Moyers "cleaned his clock".
Bill Moyers has interviewed the best and brightest, throughout the world. Back when this newbie was still in diapers.
Moyers was like some martial arts master, who, with a flick of few fingers, sends bodies flying.
A true classic moment.
Posted by: Sean Casey at June 15, 2008 3:09 PM
Hi, I was hoping to get in touch with johnne. Not sure if he knows about a mutual friend of ours passing away. Sorry to leave this comment on your blog, kind of an odd place, but I don't know how else to get in touch with him.
Posted by: shauna (parnell) winchester at June 22, 2008 2:59 PM
I saw the first video yesterday. I was wondering how they were going to play that. What an asshole.
Posted by: Matthew at June 11, 2008 12:44 PM