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Bill Moyers, "O'Reilly Factor" Producer Go At It
The blogosphere is afire today with reaction to a testy exchange between PBS's Bill Moyers and Porter Barry, a producer for Fox News Channel's "O'Reilly Factor."
To recap: Barry confronted Moyers at a media-reform conference in Minneapolis yesterday, urging him to appear on the "Factor." Moyers suggested a better idea would be to have O'Reilly ask Fox News owner Rupert Murdoch about his predictions that oil prices would fall after the Iraq War.
The spontaneous debate boiled down to this: Should Moyers appear on O'Reilly's show or vice versa?
As Moyers told Barry: "I will come on Bill O'Reilly's show after he accepts my invitation to be on my show â€" unedited. I'll give him a whole hour. … You go back and take that message. But let's see if the message gets on the air. And if it doesn't, you know, if you want a job, I may have some recommendations for you."
Gawker, Crooks and Liars and a several other blogs have video of the faceoff.
This is the second time an "O'Reilly Factor" camera crew has confronted Moyers. Last time, it happened outside Moyers' New York home.
We want to know what you think. Should Moyers appear on O'Reilly's show? Should O'Reilly visit Moyers' show? Was Barry justified in confronting Moyers at the conference? Does this sort of ambush journalism and high-tension confrontation accomplish anything?
Share your thoughts in the comments section below.
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These attack reporters are so good at hit and run, this is the only way to hold them accountable. Fox's type of "journalism" will never go away, but more exposure like this will hopefully show the unconvinced masses that it truly is the 'Professional Wrestling of Cable News'.
Should Moyers appear on BORF
Should he? No. Moyers has respect, class, success, determination now. Nothing to gain but put another notch in O' Reilly's "I think I'm useful" belt.
When he shows deep reluctance to appear on Moyers, and others, you know it's because he doesn't have the intellectual heft to actually carry on a fact-based conversation, nor the modesty to be told more than once per quarter that he's wrong wrong wrong. On issues that matter, on "facts" that he's pulled out of areas no one deserves to think about, he's wrong and it's a shame he's done so well with so little smarts or character.
What? :-) You asked.
- Temple
< This and this other
<>
This and this other comment really doesn't show much. I find Bill O'Reilly to have an excellent show. He has a solid, moderate voice. His show is not representative of Fox News as a whole. Stating his show is the same as the rest of Fox News is a typical way to throw your attacks in one basket.
Many Americans agree O'Reilly's show is useful. It is the most highly watched show. Moyers, on the other hand, does not have to rely on people watching his show to get it on. The kind of mindset often behind Moyers type of supporters and shows like these are of an elitest mindset rigid against popular opinion.
Surely, the masses often believe and engage in dreadful things... but this does not justify unsubstantiated attack methods.
As for this video clip it is not representative of the show, not in the least. Sometimes they do hassle some individuals to get on their show who otherwise would not. But such things do not revolve around the topics covered by the show.
When I see people who, therefore, are critical of something which they prove ignorance of, I am left thinking, "If they do not know why they are against this, then why are they against it".
With O'Reilly, this generally turns out to be reflexive dislike of O'Reilly's politics. It is much easier for them to make attacks on the man then on anything he actually says. It is sad to see people rely on such empty arguments.
"Moyers, on the other hand,
"Moyers, on the other hand, does not have to rely on people watching his show to get it on"
Couldn't have said it better!.
O'Reily has to pray to his sponsors for his daily bread. If a person's career status depended on him saying things that are entertaining or inflammatory then that is what he will do. You can't expect him to be an impartial reporter of events. Moyer's has that freedom to be impartial through PBS. So thank you for pointing that out.
I'm not sure what show
I'm not sure what show you're watching. Moyers said it best- "O'Reilly is not a journalist, he's a pugilist."
O'Reilly regularly engages in shouting matches with his guests. He is rude, cuts the sound from their microphones if they say things he disagrees with, and often spends a great deal of time asking why the guest didn't come on O'Reilly's show first, rather than all of those "liberal" shows, which, apparently, comprise every show on television besides his own.
I despise O'Reilly's politics, but more than that, I despise the fact that advancing those politics, even when their assertions fly in the face of the truth, is the centerpiece of his show, and not any journalistic objective. Rarely on the O'Reilly factor is any new truth uncovered. More often, it is used as a venue for his own ranting and a dressing-down (rather than an honest debate) with anyone who doesn't share his views.
Moyers should not go on O'Reilly's show, because it would be a waste of time. If you watch what O'Reilly did with the truncated version of that clip on his show, it's fairly easy to get a preview of what would happen. Nothing of value would be gained, and Moyers would have lost several hours of his time that could be put to better use.
Ummm Johanes Smart
You clearly have your head buried in the sand if you can't think of anything incorrect, false or ignorant that O'Reilly has said.
Here's one classic:
http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=103643&title=bill-...
How bout these doozey's (from MediaMatters.org)
O'Really claims:
"I made a joke out of San Francisco. If they didn't want the military, then the next time there was a terror attack, they're on their own."
In fact, O'Reilly had said:
"If Al Qaeda comes in here and blows you up, we're not going to do anything about it. We're going to say, look, every other place in America is off limits to you, except San Francisco. You want to blow up the Coit Tower? Go ahead."
Or this doozey
On The O'Reilly Factor, Bill O'Reilly responded to a viewer's letter -- criticizing O'Reilly for a "lapse of judgment" regarding his statement that he did not "see any difference between [Huffington Post founder Arianna] Huffington and the Nazis" -- by defending the statement. O'Reilly said: "If you look back at what happened in Germany, you cannot escape the similarities between what Hitler and his cutthroats did back then and the hate-filled blogs, what they're doing now."
Don't Waste Your Time, Bill
Bill Moyers has better things to do and O'Reilly should stop stalking Bill. It's difficult to image that anything useful could be learned by enduring an hour of O'Reilly on Bill Moyers' show.
O'Reilly's just looking for free advertising and ratings by sending his minions to stalk and ambush Bill.
AL
O'Reilly exposed the lies of
O'Reilly exposed the lies of Bill Moyers today. Sitting on the board of George Soros demostrates his lack of objectivity. He is nothing but a propagandist, who has no credibility nor does he have an audience.
Bill Moyers
Bill Moyers is so smart and clear headed, he runs circles around the blowhard partisian "news" of O'Reilly. O'Reilly wouldn't even run the entire clip of the altercation; proof of his dishonesty.I'm amazed when people can't see through him................
Should Moyers Appear on O'Reilly's Show?
NO. Isn't he the same O'Reilly that walked away while being interviewed by Terry Gross on NPR's Fresh air?
Moyers v. O'Reilly
If I were interested in what O'Reilly has to say, I would watch his show. The little I've seen of it has not engaged my curiosity, other than a curiosity about why he enjoys any popularity. And of course, the O'Reilly watchers can watch Moyers show. So, I'm not sure what would be gained by the two interviewing each other. It sounds like Moyers would rather interview Rupert Murdoch, and I think that might be interesting. But I'd be more interested in an independent analyst -- maybe Kathleen Hall Jameson -- explaining the appeal that O'Reilly has to his viewers.
Moyers doesn't have the guts
Moyers doesn't have the guts to face O'Reilly