Channeling the awesome spirit of Tufts' famous benefactor P.T.Barnum, Bill O'Reilly seems assured of being one of America'sgreatest showmen of the new century. His cantankerous andcontroversial personality carries over to his show, "The O'ReillyFactor," in which O'Reilly has mastered the art of televisedbullying. He is, quite possibly, the smartest character in cablenews, and also, quite possibly, the most hated.
O'Reilly's intimidating style has become the greatest draw tothe "Factor," and the host makes no efforts to shy away from hischaracterization as a bully. He's known for telling guests to "shutup" and for shutting off their microphones when he disagrees withwhat they are saying. While he'd never agree to the charge,O'Reilly takes masochistic joy in overpowering his guests. And whyshouldn't he? It gets him good ratings. His mano a mano interviewwith filmmaker Michael Moore was a fascinating look at twoideologues (one of O'Reilly's favorite buzz words) going at it.
In watching the "Factor" and reading about Fox News in general,I've come to realize that there is a distinction to be made betweenO'Reilly-the-person and O'Reilly-the-television-personality. Hepanders to his predominantly conservative audience much as JonStewart jokes for his largely liberal viewers. As the cornerstoneof the Fox News primetime lineup, the "Factor" needs to be thecrown jewel of the network, and O'Reilly makes sure of that. Andyet, if CNN had hired him eight years ago, I wholeheartedly believethat he would attune his entertaining style to that network'sliberal audience.
It is because of this bizarre dichotomy that O'Reilly can say,with a straight face, that he is "fair and balanced." As a person,he might be. He could honestly be a moderate. But the "Factor"?Wildly unfair and insulting to anyone who votes Democrat.
In recent months, however, O'Reilly has shown some surprisingmoments of fairness. He refused to give the Swift Boat Veterans anycredibility while his colleague Sean Hannity shamelessly allowedJohn O'Neil, author of "Unfit for Command," unchecked publicity.O'Reilly has publicly criticized the Bush administration on itsmangling of the Iraqi war. I'd place O'Reilly's suddeneven-handedness as a business-based decision. After years ofappeasing his conservative audience and irritating liberals, aflip-flop in bias can only fuel the controversy, therefore yieldinghigher ratings.
His ambiguously personal politics are also why he can honestlyclaim that he is an undecided voter. His show, and the networkwhich airs it, is undeniably pro-Bush. Yet, on last Thursday'sepisode of "The Daily Show," O'Reilly said that he had not made adecision with the Presidential election, mostly because of the factthat Kerry hasn't gone on the "Factor" and prostrated himselfbefore O'Reilly's bullying. Jon Stewart smartly retorted, "Soyou're one of those undecided voters who has to talk to eachcandidate personally." Naturally, O'Reilly failed to see the humor- or at least reveal that he did -because admitting the absurdityof the situation would be analogous to admitting that "The O'ReillyFactor" is really just about "O'Reilly."
That is perhaps the greatest problem with "The O'Reilly Factor"being thought of as a news program as opposed to stimulatingentertainment. Each night, O'Reilly opens up the show with "TalkingPoints," usually about the issue which is either at the top of thenews cycle or at the top of the host's brain. It's too often thelatter. On more than one occasion, O'Reilly has used the segment tohawk his own books or merchandise. Last week, he plugged his latestoffering, "The O'Reilly Factor for Kids," during the Talking Pointssegment.
Those sort of advertisements are what publicity tours are for.That's why he shows up on the morning talk shows like "Today" tosell his books. I highly doubt that Tom Brokaw, after thepublishing of "The Greatest Generation," used the NBC Nightly Newsto flak his book. O'Reilly should at least have some concept ofjournalistic ethics and recuse himself from discussing his ownmerchandise on the "Factor."
Bill O'Reilly's background is not in politics; he started histelevision career as the host of CBS's "Inside Edition" in 1988.The show was a crude combination of the trashy tabloids of "CurrentAffair," the entertainment advertising of "Entertainment Tonight,"and the soft reporting of news magazine "20/20." Unlike MSNBC'sconservative talk show host Joe Scarborough, who served in Congressfor six years, O'Reilly had no background in politics beforesigning on with Fox News in 1996.
What makes matters worse is that he doesn't restrict theridiculous self-promotion to books: For $49.95 a year, or $4.95 amonth, you can be a Bill O'Reilly Premium Member. This will giveyou access to his photo albums, exclusive webcasts and thespectacular ability to rate each of the segments on the "Factor."So each night, during the "Personal Story" segment, O'Reillymentions how the previous night's segments were "highly rated bypremium members." Quite a shocker. The people who are willing topay fifty dollars a year to join Bill O'Reilly's fan club mustthink that his show is good.
Bill O'Reilly loves letting the average American know that he isalways "looking out for you." It's all a farce. He isn't lookingout for the best interests of the Bush administration, as some onthe left would want you to believe, and he isn't always looking outfor Rupert Murdoch, the media mogul behind Fox News. Bill O'Reillyis only looking out for Bill O'Reilly.
