Let’s go there for just one moment. Let’s pretend that all the banter and all-out hatred that is directed at Fox News, Bill O’Reilly, Rupert Murdoch and News Corp. is misdirected.
Let’s forgo punning on Fox’s motto, “Fair and Balanced.” Let’s put our copy of “Outfoxed” away for a moment, and let’s pretend to believe that we are, in fact, in the “No Spin Zone.”
Now we’ve arrived.
While this break from what some call liberal media and others call intelligence is harder for some of us than others, one thing is clear: we have now arrived where a large portion of America spends their entire lives.
At year’s end, “The O’Reilly Factor” was the most viewed 8 p.m. cable news show … for 85 consecutive months.
Despite his tendency to shut up his guests or cut their mics, it is not enough to disparage his tactics as baseless when he is, effectively, king of broadcast journalism.
Rather, we must see past what has been called hate-mongering and appreciate his mastery of the medium for what it is: genius.
There is no use in disliking O’Reilly ““ his word is final. You are either with “The Factor,” or against all reason (and America).
I decided to undergo my own unscientific O’Reilly experiment. The show has reruns in the late night hours every weeknight, and my roommate and I began watching the program religiously.
What follows are the discoveries I made once I did enter the “No Spin Zone.”
After years of grumbling about the extreme fact distortion Fox is associated with, I was presented with an interesting experience.
I started to like the guy.
There is a sort of American authenticity that O’Reilly plays into during his broadcast. A prime example occurred during his Feb. 26 interview with paleontologist Dr. Terry Gates.
According to his own Web site’s transcript, O’Reilly asks: “Last question, and this is dumb, but I’m known for that. If we, through some time machine time travel thing, which may happen, who knows, go back to the dinosaur era, human beings, would the dinosaurs stalk us? Would these carnivores, would they chase us and try to get us?”
It is this type of sincere concern for humanity that one could hardly see falling from the lips of Lou Dobbs or Keith Olbermann.
Another facet of O’Reilly’s popular magnetism is a pattern that this columnist would feel uncomfortable mentioning if O’Reilly had not already acknowledged it (ever the champion of openness).
During the Feb. 11 episode, O’Reilly ““ after mistaking one of his guests for another ““ blurted, “There’s a lot of blondes in this operation. … I need sunglasses in here.”
He ended the segment with this: “Ladies, thank you very much for your blondeness.”
Margaret Hoover, the mistaken guest, is a regular on “The Factor.” In one segment, she playfully exchanges smiles and words with O’Reilly.
When he articulately claims, “I’m more feminist than you,” she warmly engages him and agrees, “Well Bill, I called you a feminist because I think you really do understand. … You’re a sensitive guy.”
In the wake of Hoover’s admission, it is hard to disagree.
Hoover, Megyn Kelly, Kirsten Powers, Lis Wiehl, Laura Ingraham, Laurie Dhue and Jill Dobson are among the regular blonde, female guests on O’Reilly’s show.
Clearly, being a blonde woman should not discount you from reporting the news, and who is O’Reilly to censor beauty?
Why shouldn’t he call his female hosts by the color of their hair?
What else would he use ““ their credentials?
And of course he’s sensitive ““ he writes books with titles like “Kids Are Americans Too” and “Who’s Looking Out For You?”
Even we liberals who have seen “Outfoxed” can appreciate O’Reilly’s sensitive side.
Who can forget how he took the liberty of defending America from answering difficult questions like the ones posed by Jeremy Glick, son of a Sept. 11 victim.
If he hadn’t cut his microphone and told him off in front of the world, who knows what kind of civil discussion Glick could have started?
On the point of O’Reilly’s repeated use of the phrase “shut up,” the loyal Fox News viewer can only offer distaste for liberal America’s foolish political correctness.
O’Reilly obviously knows what is right, so why shouldn’t he be able to silence opposition?
He only has an hour a day (replayed, of course, for our pleasure) to make sure this country is saved from the other pretty Anderson Cooper types.
And, finally, who can’t find the fact that all proceeds from the O’Reilly Store at billoreilly.com go to charity endearing?
Surely donating surplus earnings from T-shirts and pens advertising “The Factor” is enough to erase memories of countless character assassination newscasts and a phone-sex harassment case … isn’t it?
If you want to satirize your “distaste” for O’Reilly too, e-mail Makarechi at kmakarechi@media.ucla.edu. Send general comments to viewpoint@media.ucla.edu.
If you want to satirize your “distaste” for O’Reilly too, e-mail Makarechi at kmakarechi@media.ucla.edu. Send general comments to viewpoint@media.ucla.edu.