Reporting the reaction to ISIS' latest atrocity

Bernie Goldberg analyzes the media's coverage of the Jordanian pilot being burned to death by ISIS

This is a RUSH transcript from "The O'Reilly Factor," February 5, 2015. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
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O'REILLY: "Weekdays with Bernie" segment tonight. As mentioned on the Talking Points Memo, the New York Times has not editorialized about the Jordanian pilot being burned to death by ISIS rather, it's about American atrocities, the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq 12 years ago.

Joining us now from Miami, the purveyor BernardGoldberg.com and Mister Goldberg. Before we get to Abu Ghraib, what do you think about the weigh in the situation?

BERNIE GOLDBERG, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Well, let me answer, it's slightly differently than the last segment. You know that segment that you do on the show, did you know that where you bring people in who are now on FOX and --

O'REILLY: Yes. We have that coming up right after you.

GOLDBERG: Oh, okay. So you find out that somebody was a flight attendant or somebody was a standup comedian. Let's just imagine and stay with me on this. Let's just imagine, I was on that segment and I said well, before I became an analyst, a news analyst at FOX I played center field for the New York Yankees, I hit 536 lifetime home runs and, you know, just like Mickey Mantle interestingly. And I played in Third World series. Well, I would either be delusional which is a mental illness or I would be lying. I think those are the two options that apply to Brian Williams. I don't think he is mentally ill. So I don't think he is delusional. But if he lied and I suspect he did, it's not the usual lie. It's not the run of the mill lie. It's what you alluded to in the last segment. It's a special kind of lie. I will call it the celebrity lie. Celebrities go on television every night of the week usually on the late night shows and they lie. They say such and such happened to them. It never did. They make it up. And the reason they make it up is because they have to be entertainment.

O'REILLY: Right.

GOLDBERG: And they know that the truth isn't always all that interesting.

O'REILLY: Right.

GOLDBERG: The problem is, we don't care because there is some, you know, some ditsy celebrity making up some ditsy story, who cares? But a news man who is also a celebrity cannot do that because when he does, when he does, you have to wonder what else he is making up. But I will say this in conclusion, I will say this. And I totally agree with you, this will come to nothing in a throw away culture that we live, nothing is news worthy for more than a day or two. When the Russians are their surrogates shot down a civilian airliner, do you know how terrifying that is? It was out of the news in a couple of days. This will be gone in the blink of an eye --

O'REILLY: You don't expect NBC to do anything, right?

GOLDBERG: No, as a matter of fact, I expect them to too passionately do nothing. You know, if they issue a statement, it will be Brian Williams addressed this, next. No, I expect nothing.

O'REILLY: All right. You know, Gutfeld, McGuirk wanted to.

GOLDBERG: Do you agree?

O'REILLY: I don't know. I don't know what they're going to do. I think -- I don't know. Gutfeld McGuirk wanted to address it tomorrow. I'm not going to do it. And it's a one day story for me. I don't want to pile on the man. All right? I think he is punished to the degree of his exaggeration. So, that's just the way I feel about it.

GOLDBERG: Okay.

O'REILLY: All right. Far more importantly, the coverage on television, the national media of the Jordanian pilot being burned to death I thought was pretty responsible this time around.

GOLDBERG: Yes. It was. It was.

O'REILLY: So, all the networks devoted the time to it. They'll ignored it. Even MSNBC, the left wing, crazy network, they had it into context didn't take cheap shots or blame President Bush for it, you know, the usual stuff they do.

GOLDBERG: That's right. Some stories are so big you can't really --

O'REILLY: You can't, right. Right. Okay.

GOLDBERG: Yes.

O'REILLY: But the "New York Times," that editorial today was no accident. The Abu Ghraib thing.

GOLDBERG: The "New York Times" ran an editorial today that calls for accountability for the civilian contractors who were involved in Abu Ghraib. There is hearing in federal court tomorrow about whether they can be sued. So, it's legitimate editorial. Comes a day before a hearing tomorrow morning. Legitimate. I have no problem in that sense with the editorial. But you made an interesting and important point in your talking points today, and that is that liberals in general they really don't feel too comfortable attacking even something as clearly vicious as the things ISIS does. So they run an editorial about something that happened at Abu Ghraib, but we went back and they checked every editorial that the New York Times ran in this calendar year from January 1st until today. And there have been no editorials, not at all about ISIS atrocities.

O'REILLY: Right.

GOLDBERG: But there is one about American atrocities.

O'REILLY: Right.

GOLDBERG: I don't have no problem about running the editorial about American atrocities, I would just feel better if the gods who write editorials at the "Bew York Times" showed the same outrage, the same outrage, actually, they should have showed more outrage.

O'REILLY: Of course they should.

GOLDBERG: For what ISIS does on a daily basis versus what Americans did on a very rare occasion.

O'REILLY: Perhaps they will now, based on the amnesty international report. That's a group the "New York Times" loves about the raping and enslaving of 10 to 12-year-old girls in Iraq, maybe they will do something. Maybe we should save those girls, Bernie, you know. Maybe we should try to save those girls.

GOLDBERG: Yes. I not only hope they do an editorial, but to not do it would be a dereliction of their duty as editorial writers.

O'REILLY: All right. Bernie Goldberg, everybody.

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