Last Thursday, I gave the keynote speech at the National Society of Newspaper Columnists down in Philadelphia. Now I don't usually do that kind of thing because it's a hostile environment as many newspaper people despise FOX News based upon their own left wing ideology. But Philadelphia Daily News columnist Stu Bykofsky made a compelling argument. He said to me, hey, you're always slamming the print press on TV. Why not look them in the eyes and do it. And so I did.
My primary point is this: Most Americans are traditional people. And millions are conservative. Those two groups heavily outnumber the liberal secular progressive crew. But most newspapers are overwhelmingly liberal and have alienated many Americans by bleeding their liberal editorial viewpoints into their news pages. That's why so many newspapers are in dire economic trouble. A major part of their readership is gone.
The other reason, of course, is the Internet. Why buy a paper when you can see the news for free on your PC? But if newspapers gave the folks something of value, the folks would buy them. Most newspapers are not doing that.
Now the crowd I spoke to in Philly was overwhelmingly left wing. Stu introduced me by reeling off some my liberal positions, hoping the columnists would warm up a bit. But why did he have to do that? So what if I have some conservative positions? So what if FOX News takes a more traditional stance than NBC News? News people are supposed to respect opposing points of view.
In America today, that's obviously not the case. — As many in the media see their role not to inform or enlighten you, but to promote various ideological clauses of their own.
In the upcoming presidential race, I believe most of the media will help the Democratic party, big time. Bank on it.
In the Q&A that followed my speech, I was tough on some of those in the audience. If you go to billoreilly.com, we have a link to a very fair article in Editor and Publisher magazine that outlines what happened in that Q&A.
Talking Points is fed up with corruption and dishonesty in the press and will continue to attack it. Last week's revelation that journalists donate to liberal causes nine times the rate they donate to conservative causes flat out proves that an industry the founding fathers hoped would protect Americans from corruption now finds itself compromised.
There are many brilliant conservative and traditional writers out there, but you won't see much of them in the nation's newspapers.
And that's "The Memo."
Most Ridiculous Item
When we last left our pal Jeanine Garofalo, she was languishing on the bankrupt Air America network from which she was quickly dispatched.
Now, she's one of the voices on "Ratatouille", playing a French lady named Colette. Ms. Garofalo, of course, has to make everything left wing. And while promoting the movie, was quoted as saying, "I saw no need to make fun of French people. As if the French are bummed that Bill O'Reilly doesn't like them."
For the record — I'll speak slowly so even Ms. Garofalo can understand — we have nothing against the French people. We didn't like the Chirac government, which hurt the USA and blocked action to save lives in Darfur.
By the way, Chirac is now under criminal investigation but refuses to testify about anything. Just thought Jeanine might like to know.
Ridiculous? C'est la vie.
—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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