Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Fox News and Bill O'Reilly Take a page out of the Right Wing Handbook for Responding to Accusations of Racism: Attack the Messenger.
“"Rick," he said, "there was no racial intent in what I said. It was a benign program. We didn't receive one single complaint on any of our radio stations, this is a hatchet job by Media Matters.”
“This is nothing more than left-wing outlets stirring up false racism accusations for ratings. It's sad.' " According to the on-screen graphic, the statement was from Bill Shine, Fox News' senior vice president of programming.
During the September 25 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, Fox News host Bill O'Reilly advised listeners to tune in to his Fox News program for "a great segment tonight" on how "CNN has now entered the dark side with Media Matters." O'Reilly further claimed that CNN "will use the far-left assassins," and "will prop them up." Later in the broadcast, O'Reilly referred to "another attack on me by another far-left, loony, smear website that CNN picked up."
On the September 26 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends, during a discussion of Fox News host Bill O'Reilly's controversial comments about a recent trip to Sylvia's restaurant in Harlem, co-host Brian Kilmeade said O'Reilly's remarks have "been blown out of proportion by a group called Media Matters," while co-host Steve Doocy asserted, "I was on The O'Reilly Factor last night doing the 'Culture Quiz,' and he [O'Reilly] told this story about how ... they're on this personal jihad, it seems, CNN and Media Matters, to destroy Bill O'Reilly."
Labels: Bill O'Reilly, Fox News, Racists
