FOXNEWS host Bill O’Reilly is taking a lot of heat lately for allegedly embellishing his reporting experience during the Falklands War.
According to Mother Jones reporter David Corn, O’Reilly wasn’t within a thousand miles of the shooting. Apparently the military authorities refused to allow correspondents covering the conflict anywhere near the action on the Falkland Islands. Reporters were kept on the mainland and fed canned narrative and pool photos of the daily skirmishes. The New York Times has corroborated the Mother Jones’ account.
Since Mother Jones broke the story O’Reilly has come under fire from other news organizations claiming that he has similarly embellished his reporting in other instances.
FOXNEWS is standing steadfastly behind O’Reilly; issuing a full throated statement of support.
O’Reilly is livid. Lashing out as only the bombastic O’ Reilly can, the cable news giant not only defended his reporting, he literally threatened both Corn and the New York Times reporter for doing their jobs. “If you continue with this I will come after you with everything I’ve got. You can consider that a threat.”
There are any number of ways that a reputable news anchor might respond to such allegations. He might own up to the mistake as Brian Williams recently did; and offer up an apology. Or he might issue a rebuttal offering factual proof of the accuracy of his claims.
But O’Reilly is not a reputable news anchor. He is an entertainer who has spent the better part of his career using misstatements and falsehoods to shred the reputation of those with whom he disagrees. Now he finds himself at the receiving end of the criticism…and he doesn’t like it.
I for one am surprised at all the hub bub over the unveiling of O’Reilly’s half-truths. There is nothing to see here. For as Jon Stewart recently said about FOXNEWS…
“No one’s watching them for the actual truth.”
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