http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/bill-oreillys-exit-means-future-fox-news/I was stunned when I came home last night and saw this.
The guy who's had the most popular show on cable, news or otherwise, consistently, for 20 years.
The guy who's been arguably the most influential conservative news commentator for 20 years. I saw on CNN that that they were crediting (or blaming) O'Reilly for "creating Trump" and paving the way for a populist candidate who scorns the political elites, and who vocally distrusts the mainstream media. I would argue that the bad behavior of the liberal media and political elites has created that mistrust, not O'Reilly who merely reported it!
EXAMPLES: Dan Rather, Martin Bashir, Bryan Williams, Christine Romans. Their blatant partisanship and bias, not FOX or O'Reilly spawned widespread distrust of the media.
Leaders like John Boehner and Paul Ryan and other Republican leaders, who campaign on one thing and do the opposite once they win. Likewise Obama and the Democrats, who promised to focus like a laser on the economy and jobs in 2008, then shot their political capital on Obamacare that 53% of the nation in poll after poll said they didn't want.
But here I am expecting fair and honest coverage from CNN. They were salivating and giddy at the opportunity to rail on O'Reilly and FOX. And somehow tie it in with a negative connotation about Trump.
I was watching Alisyn Camerota with Chris Cuomo, with guest Margaret Hoover (Herbert Hoover's great granddaughter), both women of whom were former FOX regulars, who railed on O'Reilly. Hoover said it was demeaning to be on FOX and O'Reilly's show in particular, he'd always make comments about her eyelashes being too long or too short, or that she was the obligatory blonde on the show. None of which I consider too bad for a guy of O'Reilly's generation. It's television news, so male or female, appearance is part of their ratings consideration. People like Tucker Carleson, Sean Hannity, Brit Hume, Brett Baier and even Bill O'Reilly have read viewer e-mail on the air about their appearance, some of it vicious. I'm not persuaded by these examples.
But a separate law firm investigation of O'Reilly apparently found far more incriminating accusations from a number of women. I'd love to hear them, specific anecdotes and examples, rather than the blind accusation without details of behavior that was "inappropriate" or "sexual harassment".
For FOX to drop their number one star, it must have been quite incriminating.
