Every morning my staff gives me a folder entitled "Bill in the News." It contains articles and TV transcripts that have mentioned my name overnight. Ninety percent of the press is negative.
The same holds true for FOX News in general. Most of the media coverage critical.
So we decided to find out why. If FOX News is the dominant number one rated cable network, and our presentation appeals to millions, why are we hammered in the press? The answer, of course, is ideology.
We can't find one TV critic in the United States of America, not one who isn't a liberal or a registered Democrat. Most are committed liberals, who dislike us for giving conservative and traditional Americans a fair shot.
By the way, if you know of a non-liberal TV critic, please let us know because we always want to be fair and balanced.
Now the liberal press is not liking this one bit. Writing in Daily Variety, TV critic Brian Lowry, a left leaning guy, says, "Hence we get a campaign like Bill O'Reilly's push to expose TV critics' political affiliations, with the FOX News host convincing himself that documenting party registrations will somehow illuminate any negativity directed at his channel. In fact, all the crusade truly does is highlight O'Reilly's self- obsession and translucently thin skin, causing him to see enemies and 'smear merchants' around every corner."
Well, Lowry's opinion mirrors the war on Christmas reporting from the liberal media. That is, the war on Christmas doesn't really exist! — O'Reilly made it up!
But facts are facts. And here is some interesting ones. Daily Variety reports on the news and entertainment industry. A magazine called Broadcasting & Cable reports on television. A magazine called Publisher's Weekly reports on books.
All of these publications are owned by the same company — Reed Business, run by a man named Tad Smith. And who is Tad Smith?
He's a far left guy who donates major money to people like Howard Dean and Hillary Clinton. Nothing wrong with that! But Smith also hires editors in his own image and his publications often disparage conservatives and praised liberals.
The one exception is at Variety, where editor Peter Bart is pretty independent in his work.
So what we have here in America is media reporting skewed way left.
Overwhelmingly, the TV, movie, book, and music critics are all committed liberals. That means U.S. culture is defined by them.
Don't believe me? Check out my book "Culture Warrior", where the reviews of Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 911" and "The Passion of the Christ" are contrasted. Most movie critics loved Moore, hated Jesus, at least the way Mel Gibson presented him.
Summing up, the liberal press in America now influences almost everything, even my thin skin.
Most Ridiculous Item of the Day
On January 4, a huge bash honoring the new Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, will take place in D.C. You can be there.
Entertainment will be provided by members of The Grateful Dead, Tony Bennett, Carole King, among others. Richard Gere will be there, too.
And that is — you can see them all, if you have a thousand bucks.— A thousand. Cost of a ticket. What would Jerry Garcia say? Deadheads do not pay a thousand dollars to see a concert. Might be ridiculous.
—You can catch Bill O'Reilly's "Talking Points Memo" and "Most Ridiculous Item" weeknights at 8 and 11 p.m. ET on the FOX News Channel and any time on foxnews.com/oreilly. Send your comments to: oreilly@foxnews.com
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