10/5/05

On his October 4 broadcast, Fox host Bill O'Reilly presented a segment about "political smear" websites that "will doand say pretty much anything to harm people with whom they disagree politically." Ironically, O'Reilly used that very segment to launch his own smear.

Guest David Kline said to O'Reilly: "I think there are a lot of nut cases out there. You have web sites and political bloggers that believe that President Bush orchestrated the 9/11 attacks."

O'Reilly responded by saying, "You mean he didn't? That's what I've been hearing from Phil Donahue and Jeremy Glick and Michael Moore, that he orchestrated it. You mean he didn't? That's not true?"

Former talkshow host Donahue and filmmaker Moore do not subscribe to the theory that Bush masterminded the September 11, 2001 attacks. And, despite O'Reilly repeated accusations (see Media Matters, 9/22/05), neither does Jeremy Glick, a one-time guest on O'Reilly's show (2/4/03) whose father was killed in the September 11 attacks. When Glick appeared on the show, he referred to the "political legacy" of the United States "training militarily, economically and situating geopolitically" the mujahideen fighters in Afghanistan, some of whom (including Osama bin Laden) would later form Al-Qaeda. Following Glick's appearance, O'Reilly attempted to twist his remarks to suggest that Glick believed George W. Bush was involved in the September 11 attacks (9/18/03, 9/19/03. 7/20/04).

Oddly enough, O'Reilly had recently explained (9/22/05) the "rules" for his program as follows: "No slander and no personal accusations without facts to back them up. If the guest violates those rules, they are scolded by me and will not be invited back."

Do those rules apply to the host?

ACTION: Contact Fox News Channel and demand that O'Reilly retract his smear.

CONTACT:

Bill O'Reilly mailto:oreilly@foxnews.com

John Moody, Senior Vice President Fox News Channel mailto:john.moody@foxnews.com

To read a transcript of the O'Reilly Factor, go to:

A "http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=43145543&url_num=15&url

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,171328,00.html

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,171328,00.html/A

http://www.fair.org/images/side_donation.jpg

http://www.fair.org/images/side_store.jpg

http://www.fair.org/images/side_extra.gif

http://www.fair.org/images/extra_covers/090105.jpg

http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=43145543&url_num=20&url

http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=106

"Click here to subscribe!/A

http://www.fair.org/images/side_counterspin.gif http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=43145543&url_num=22&url

http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=2686

"John Feffer on North Korea, Melissa Goodman on Patriot Act/A (9/30/05-10/6/05) Feel free to respond to FAIR "mailto:fair@fair.org. We can't reply to everything, but we will look at each message. We especially appreciate documented examples of media bias or censorship. And please send copies of your email correspondence with media outlets, including any responses, to mailto:fair@fair.org

http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=43145543&url_num=24&ur

http://www.demaction.org/fair/unsubscribe.jsp "Unsubscribe/A from the FAIR email list

If you were forwarded this message and you want to receive future FAIR alerts delivered directly to you, subscribe by clicking A http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=43145543&url_num=25&url

http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=129

http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=43145543&url_num=26&url

http://www.fair.org/index.php

http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=43145543&url_num=27&url

http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=105

"Contact Us http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=43145543&url_num=28&url

http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=103

http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=43145543&url_num=29&url

http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=144" http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=43145543&url_num=30&url

http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=145

http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=43145543&url_num=31&url

http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=130

http://creativecommons.org/images/public/somerights20.gif This work is licensed under a A http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=43145543&url_num=33&url

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/"Creative Commons License/A.

Site designed by the A "http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=43145543&url_num=34&url

http://www.mayfirst.org

"May First Technology Collective/A Email list services by A http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?key=43145543&url_num=35&url

http://www.demaction.org"Democracy in Action/A

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------