Bill O'Reilly (commentator)

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Bill O'Reilly

Born:	September 10, 1949 (age 57) New York City, NY, USA
Occupation:	Author, syndicated columnist, television and talk radio personality.
Salary:	$9,000,000[1]
Spouse:	Maureen E. McPhilmy
Website:	billoreilly.com

For the cricketer, see Bill O'Reilly (cricketer).

William James "Bill" O'Reilly, Jr. (born September 10, 1949)^[2] is the host of the cable news program The O'Reilly Factor, broadcast on the Fox News Channel.^[3]

O'Reilly also hosts The Radio Factor, a radio program syndicated by Westwood One, and has written six books.

O'Reilly is a self-described independent and has used several terms to describe his views. In his book Culture Warrior, he identifies himself as a traditionalist and a populist. Previously a registered Republican for an unknown period of time, O'Reilly has been registered as having no party affiliation since 2001.^{[citation needed]}

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Early life/Education 1.2 Broadcasting career 1.3 Personal life 1.4 The O'Reilly Factor 1.5 American Red Cross and the United Way 2 O'Reilly's public beliefs and points of view 2.1 Political affiliation 2.2 The Iraq war 2.3 Terrorism 2.4 Politics 2.5 Secularism and the "elite media" 2.6 Crime and punishment 2.6.1 The prison system 2.6.2 The Mexican border 2.6.3 Gun control 2.6.4 Jessica's Law 2.7 Fiscal issues 2.8 Environmental issues 3 Controversy and criticism 3.1 Publicity of biography 3.2 Sexual harassment lawsuits 4 Published works 5 Books 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life/Education

O'Reilly was born in New York City to Irish Catholic parents William and Angela O'Reilly, from Brooklyn, New York and Bergen County, New Jersey. His father was an accountant for the oil company Caltex. In 1951, his family moved to East Meadow on Long Island.^[4] After graduating from Chaminade High School, a private Catholic boys high school in Mineola, New York in 1967, O'Reilly attended Marist College, a small, co-educational private (and at the time, Catholic) institution in Poughkeepsie, New York. While at Marist, O'Reilly played punter in the National Club Football Association,^[5] and was also a columnist and feature writer for the school's newspaper, The Circle. As an honors student majoring in history, he spent his junior year of college abroad, attending Queen Mary College at the University of London.^[6] O'Reilly received his B.A. in History in 1971. He played semi-professional baseball during this time as a pitcher for the Brooklyn Monarchs, and had an unsuccessful tryout with the American professional baseball team, the New York Mets. O'Reilly later earned a Masters Degree in Broadcast Journalism from Boston University and another Masters Degree in Public Administration from Harvard John F. Kennedy School of Government.

[edit] Broadcasting career

After graduating from Marist College, O'Reilly moved to Miami, Florida at age 21, where he taught English and history at Monsignor Pace High School for two years. After leaving Miami, O'Reilly returned to school, earning a M.A. in Broadcast Journalism from Boston University in 1976. While attending Boston University, he was a reporter and columnist for various local newspapers and alternative news weeklies, including The Boston Phoenix. O'Reilly did his broadcast journalism internship in Miami during this time, and was also an entertainment writer and movie critic for The Miami Herald.

O'Reilly's early television news career included reporting and anchoring positions at WNEP-TV in Scranton, Pennsylvania, where he also reported the weather. At WFAA-TV in Dallas, Texas, O'Reilly was awarded the Dallas Press Club Award for excellence in investigative reporting. He then moved to KMGH-TV in Denver, Colorado where he won a Local Emmy Award for his coverage of a skyjacking.^[8][9] In 1978 while in Denver, Bill was offered a job as the Marlboro Man. He turned it down because he didn’t smoke nor wanted to promote it. (radio factor/ Feb. 21, 2007). O'Reilly also worked for KATU-TV in Portland, Oregon, as well as TV stations in Hartford, Connecticut (WFSB-TV), and in Boston, Massachusetts.^[9]

In 1980, he anchored his own program on WCBS-TV in New York where he won his second Local Emmy for an investigation of corrupt city marshals. He was promoted to the network as a CBS News correspondent and covered the wars in El Salvador and the Falkland Islands from his base in Buenos Aires, Argentina (1982). He later left CBS over, among other tensions, a dispute concerning the uncredited use in a report by Bob Schieffer of riot footage shot by O'Reilly's crew in Buenos Aires during the Falklands conflict. (A 1998 novel by O'Reilly, Those Who Trespass: A Novel of Television and Murder, depicts a television reporter who has a similar dispute over a Falklands War report. The character proceeds to exact his revenge on network staff in a series of graphically-described murders.)^[10]

In 1986, O'Reilly joined ABC News as a correspondent for ABC World News Tonight.

In 1989, O'Reilly joined the nationally syndicated King World (now CBS) program Inside Edition, a tabloid/gossip television program in competition with A Current Affair. He started as senior correspondent and backup anchor for British TV host David Frost, and subsequently became the program's anchor after Frost's termination. In addition to being one of the first American broadcasters to cover the dismantling of the Berlin Wall, O'Reilly also obtained the first exclusive interview with murderer Joel Steinberg and was the first television host from a national current affairs program on the scene of the 1992 Los Angeles riots.

In 1995, O'Reilly was replaced by former NBC News and CBS News anchor Deborah Norville on Inside Edition. He then enrolled at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, where he received a Master's Degree in Public Administration. Upon leaving Harvard, O'Reilly was hired by Roger Ailes, chairman and CEO of the then startup FOX News Channel, to anchor The O'Reilly Report. The show soon moved to a new time slot, and was renamed The O'Reilly Factor.

O'Reilly's radio program reaches 3.25 million-plus listeners and is carried by more than 400 radio stations.^[11] NewsMax Magazine's "Top 25 Talk Radio Host" list selected O'Reilly to the #2 spot as most influential host in the nation.^[12]

[edit] Personal life

O'Reilly married Maureen E. McPhilmy, a public relations executive, in 1995. They have one daughter, Madeline, born in 1998, and a son, Spencer, born in 2003. According to an October 2005 interview in Newsday, O'Reilly hired bodyguards and is very sensitive about the general public taking pictures of him, calling some of them "stealth paparazzi".^[13] O'Reilly has requested that no photographs of his home or family be made public. He and his family now live in Manhasset, New York.^[14]

[edit] The O'Reilly Factor

Main article: The O'Reilly Factor

O'Reilly's television show, The O'Reilly Factor, is routinely the highest-rated show of the three major U.S. 24-hour cable news channels (CNN, FOX News, and MSNBC). The show is taped late in the afternoon at a studio in New York City and airs every weekday on the FOX News Channel at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time.

[edit] American Red Cross and the United Way

In the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks, O'Reilly devoted substantial time on his television show and wrote pieces alleging that the United Way and American Red Cross failed to deliver millions of dollars in donated money, raised by the organizations in the name of the disaster, to the families of those killed in the attacks.^[15][16] O'Reilly asserted that the organizations misrepresented their intentions for the money being raised by not distributing all of the 9/11 relief fund to the victims.^[17] Actor George Clooney defended the United Way from O'Reilly's criticisms of a telethon that raised $129.5 million, plus an additional $12 million in CD and DVD sales, according to Jeannette Reed, spokeswoman for the United Way of New York City. The funds were given to victims and surviving families in the form of cash assistance, she said. Congressional hearings were called on the matter and an investigation by New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer took place. Bernadette Healey, the president of the Red Cross, resigned shortly thereafter.^[18] In sworn testimony before the House Ways and Means Committee in November 2001, Congressman J.D. Hayworth asserted that media pressure, most notably from O'Reilly, helped cause the Red Cross to increase payments to affected people and helped cause other charities to participate in an oversight database established by Spitzer.^[19]

[edit] O'Reilly's public beliefs and points of view

The neutrality of this article is disputed. Please see the discussion on the talk page.

[edit] Political affiliation

On his January 10, 2000 show, O'Reilly claimed he was an Independent, but the New York Daily News reported on December 6, 2000, that he was registered as a Republican in Nassau County, New York, from 1994 to 2000. After the Daily News questioned O'Reilly on the matter, he re-registered as an Independent in 2001.^[20]

In his book The O'Reilly Factor, he describes his political affiliation this way: "You might be wondering if whether I'm conservative, liberal, libertarian, or exactly what... See, I don't want to fit any of those labels, because I believe that the truth doesn't have labels. When I see corruption, I try to expose it. When I see exploitation, I try to fight it. That's my political position."^[21]

While O'Reilly often urges his audience to vote against particular candidates, all of whom have been Democrats (some of whom are those O'Reilly believes are against "tougher punishment" for sex offenders, all of them being Democrats), he has never urged them to vote against Republicans or conservatives. O'Reilly has used several terms to describe his views. In his book Culture Warrior, he identifies himself as a "traditionalist" who he believes are in a "culture war" with "secular progressives."

[edit] The Iraq war

Speaking on ABC's Good Morning America on 18 March 2003, O'Reilly made the following promise: "If the Americans go in and overthrow Saddam Hussein and it's clean, he has nothing, I will apologize to the nation, and I will not trust the Bush administration again."^[22][23][24]

In another appearance on the same program on 10 February 2004, O'Reilly responded to repeated requests for him to honor his pledge: "My analysis was wrong and I'm sorry. I was wrong. I'm not pleased about it at all." With regard to never again trusting the current U.S. government, he said, "I am much more skeptical of the Bush administration now than I was at that time."^[22] He has continued to publicly support the U.S. invasion of Iraq, while criticizing the Bush administration's handling of it, often giving rhetorical advice to the administration.

After reading a poll showing that only 2% of the Iraqi people viewed the US Forces as liberators and 55% preferred that they leave, O'Reilly said they are a "prehistoric" group and he has no respect for them. He added: "we cannot intervene in the Muslim world ever again. What we can do is bomb the living daylights out of them (...) no more ground troops, no more hearts and minds, ain't going to work."^[25]

[edit] Terrorism

O'Reilly supports coercive measures to extract information from detainees at Guantanamo Bay, which he visited on two occasions. He has said that, in comparison to torture procedures used under the regimes of dictators such as Adolf Hitler and Pol Pot, the U.S.'s tactics are not torture and are beneficial even when involving physical techniques.^[26]

He also thinks that detainees should be judged under military tribunals, but not protected under the Geneva Convention because the convention requires combatants to wear a uniform, although this is not the only reason given.^[26]

He has been critical of politicians such as Democratic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and private citizens such as financier George Soros for wanting to try terror suspects in civilian courts.^[27]

[edit] Politics

O'Reilly said of the Bill Clinton impeachment that it "was not about sex. This is about honesty and cruelty. For Mr. Clinton, it was about undermining the justice system."^[28] In the same article he points out that Gary Condit, a Democratic congressman who had an affair with Chandra Levy prior to her disappearance and death, should be held to the same standard when it comes to inappropriate behavior.^{[citation needed]}

According to the NEWSMAX publication, O'Reilly has repeatedly claimed throughout the years that Clinton had the IRS audit him.^[29]

In the 2004 presidential election he implied his support for George W. Bush, but also complimented John Kerry. During an interview on The Daily Show, O'Reilly told host Jon Stewart that he had yet to make up his mind on who he was going to vote for. He called the "Swift Vets and POWs for Truth" campaign criticizing Kerry's military record "terrible."^[30] He is also cited as saying that most of those who voted for Kerry did so as a vote against Bush, stating that the Democratic party has been "hijacked by the left" and that they suffer losses because of this.^[31] Immediately following the election O'Reilly ridiculed John Kerry, calling him a "sissy".^[32]

O'Reilly will not always endorse candidates directly, but he will generally advise viewers and listeners not to vote for a candidate that he opposes (which, in any race between two major-party candidates, becomes a de facto endorsement by O'Reilly of the other candidate).^[33] In 2004 he urged his viewers to vote against Democratic senate candidate Betty Castor in Florida because of her attack of the show for their investigation of Sami Al-Arian, an instructor at the University of South Florida where Castor was president. Al-Arian was later arrested by the FBI.^[34] He has also urged his viewers to vote for Republican Doug Forrester in the 2005 New Jersey Gubernatorial Election, and always Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2003. O'Reilly also told listeners on the Radio Factor to vote for Republican John Thune in 2004.

O'Reilly has been critical of former attorney general Janet Reno, calling her "perhaps the worst attorney general in history" for allowing the FBI to become a "disorganized mess" and not prosecuting corporate criminals. However, he later praised former Attorney General John Ashcroft for going after the Arthur Andersen accounting firm, as well as Enron, WorldCom, Sam Waksal of Imclone and Martha Stewart.^[35]

O'Reilly has criticized Democratic Senator Hillary Clinton and her running for president in 2008. In an interview with Jay Leno he said, "I just feel that Hillary is a socialist, and I'm paying enough tax. Hillary wants to take my money [and] your money ... and give it to strangers. There's something about that that offends me." He pointed out that she had voted for every single spending bill that year. In the same interview, he accused her of running as a political carpetbagger, and said that she intends to abolish the Electoral College in favor of popular vote, claiming that it would be done only to give her an advantage in the presidential race.^[36]

[edit] Secularism and the "elite media"

In 2003, O'Reilly criticized the Los Angeles Times for endorsing then-governor Gray Davis, who was running against Arnold Schwarzenegger in a recall election. He said that he "has never seen a newspaper try to destroy someone as aggressively as the Times is doing." He made the claim that Californians have canceled their subscriptions due to the "extreme left-wing bias" of the newspaper. At the same time, he felt that Davis and the "Democratic machine" were equally corrupt and had to be removed.^[37] In the same segment, O'Reilly applauded that voters in Nassau County, New York, where O'Reilly resides, threw the "corrupt GOP" out of county government and that the new County Executive, Democrat Tom Suozzi, was doing a good job.

He has criticized the funding of left-wing interests by George Soros and Peter Lewis.

O'Reilly supported California Proposition 73 because it required parental notification for underage girls seeking an abortion. "[T]he left-wing media has been able to convince millions of Americans that the government knows what's best for families, not the parents," he said.^[38]

He has commented extensively on the gay marriage issue that erupted in San Francisco, and has criticized Schwarzenegger and Bush for not speaking out against the issue.^[39]

He has supported the mention of intelligent design in schools and considers the National Academy of Sciences and the American Association for the Advancement of Science opposition to be fascist.^[40]

O'Reilly has been critical of the ACLU, calling it "the most dangerous organization in the United States of America." He has called them a fascist organization in response to their threatened lawsuit against Los Angeles County for failing to remove a cross from its official seal.^[41]

He regularly criticizes jurists in controversial cases as "activist judges." He uses the issue of gay marriage to support his point. "The folks decide that by voting and, in the case of gay marriage, the folks have decided. And that decision should be respected."^[42]

O'Reilly has taken to using the abbreviation "S-P", for "Secular Progressive", as a shorthand way of referring to that general political category. However, neither Webster's Dictionary nor dictionary.com recognize the existence of such a category.^[43]

O'Reilly has recently criticized NBC News several times, claiming they have a left-wing bias towards the War in Iraq.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Crime and punishment

[edit] The prison system

O'Reilly has called the current U.S. prison system too lenient, and has said that criminals have too many privileges like television and cigarettes, as well as access to drugs and sex. He has commented on support for military style labor camps for the nation's worst criminals as an alternative to the current prison system. He proposes a gulag style prison located in Alaska where such criminals would be forced to work eight hours a day, six days a week. Visitation would be limited to a few visitors a year. Punishment would be enforced through food rationing and solitary confinement. In his view, this could also replace the death penalty, to which he is opposed.^[44]

[edit] The Mexican border

He has supported stricter border controls, including placement of the National Guard troops on the US-Mexican border and has criticized Bush for not allocating enough resources to make border security effective. He also criticized Ronald Reagan's act of amnesty, claiming that it made the illegal immigration problem worse.^[45]

[edit] Gun control

O'Reilly supports reasonable gun control.^[30] However, he also voiced support for private gun ownership after Hurricane Katrina.^[46]

[edit] Jessica's Law

O'Reilly is a self-professed proponent of stricter penalties for child molesters. He has vehemently supported Jessica's Law and criticizes what he believes to be lenient treatment of those convicted of child molestation.^[47] He has also criticized the law's detractors.^[48] He has endorsed politicians like Republican Doug Forrester in the 2005 New Jersey gubernatorial election, suggesting that Jon Corzine, a Democrat, would be less likely to support a national version of the law.^[49]

O'Reilly has been particularly critical of the Debra LaFave case, in which she was convicted of having sex with a 14-year-old boy but was only sentenced to house arrest and seven years' probation.^[50]

He criticizes many politicians who oppose mandatory minimum sentences for child molesters. Specifically, he points out Massachusetts House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi, Wyoming Governor Dave Freudenthal, Senator Brian Frosh of Maryland, Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen, former Idaho Governor Dirk Kempthorne. He has also called Vermont, Hawaii, Montana, Maine and Utah "child predator-friendly states".^[50]

On the January 15th, 2007 edition of Fox News' "The O'Reilly Factor", host Bill O'Reilly said of Shawn Hornbeck -- who was abducted at the age of 11, held for four years, and recently found in Missouri -- that "there was an element here that this kid liked about this circumstances" and that he "do[esn't] buy" "the Stockholm syndrome thing." O'Reilly also said: "The situation here for this kid looks to me to be a lot more fun than what he had under his old parents. He didn't have to go to school. He could run around and do whatever he wanted." When fellow Fox News host Greta Van Susteren pointed out that "[s]ome kids like school," O'Reilly replied: "Well, I don't believe this kid did."

The following day, during his "Talking Points Memo" segment, O'Reilly responded to viewer mail criticizing his comments about Hornbeck. O'Reilly concluded: "I hope he did not make a conscious decision to accept his captivity because" his kidnapper "made things easy for him. No school, play all day long."^[51]

[edit] Fiscal issues

O'Reilly is a frequent critic of government welfare and poverty programs. He is also critical of the estate tax which taxes up to 46 percent of estates which, under current federal law, are valued over $2 million. However, he does not differentiate between the marginal tax rate (46%) and the effective tax rate (roughly 9%).^[52] According to the IRS, the estate tax in its "current form only affects the wealthiest 2% of all Americans", or approximately 52,000 estates.^[53]

O'Reilly has said French unemployment and subsequent riots are the "common effects of socialist thinking". He says the French unemployment rate is high because of entitlements sanctioned by the French government, and that these entitlements make employers hesitant to hire young employees for fear that they will be stuck with an underperforming worker while being required to give them benefits and extensive vacation time.^[54]

He says he supports income-based affirmative action as opposed to race-related affirmative action.^[55]

He said that much of the chaos following Hurricane Katrina occurred because roughly 10 percent of the population cannot sustain itself. He has said that much of the funds doled out under entitlement programs is wasted on alcohol and drugs.^[56]

[edit] Environmental issues

O'Reilly generally supports the science behind global warming, although he has said that it is not entirely certain that fossil fuels are the cause. Nonetheless, he has expressed support for a long-term strategy to curb fossil fuel use. He has said he would not support the Kyoto Treaty for economic reasons, but supports the use of fewer polluting agents, more conservation, and "tons more innovation" such as tax credits for alternative fuels.^[57]

O'Reilly has also stated his belief that the United States is not doing enough to make it independent of foreign oil. "If Brazil can develop an ethanol industry that makes it completely independent of foreign oil, then the USA can."^[58]

[edit] Controversy and criticism

Main article: Criticism of Bill O'Reilly

Over the years, there have been several controversial issues highlighted in O'Reilly's print and broadcast work. He is involved in many disputes with figures and sources (both liberal and conservative) including Al Franken, Michael Savage, George Clooney, Joe Scarborough, Jon Stewart, Keith Olbermann, Tucker Carlson, David Letterman, Neal Boortz, Michael Kinsley, Bill Maher and Ludacris.

He has had disagreements with Rosie O'Donnell for expressing what he sees as far-left viewpoints, and has called upon Disney / ABC to "do the right thing" regarding Rosie's employment, noting that ABC fired Bill Maher when he called the acts of the 9/11 hijackers "Stupid maybe, but not cowardly". [1]

It has been said that on his prompting, Fox News sued Al Franken over his book, Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right, claiming that the book's satirical mockery of the network and of O'Reilly himself was a copyright violation. However, O'Reilly denied this in an interview with NPR's Terry Gross.^{[citation needed]} The title was critical of O'Reilly, among many others, and an unflattering image of O'Reilly from the show was included on the cover, along with Ann Coulter, Dick Cheney, and George W. Bush. The counter-argument in the suit was the book was a parody and could not be mistaken for a Fox News publication. On August 22, 2003, U.S. District Judge Denny Chin denied Fox's request for an injunction to block the publication of Franken's book, characterizing the network's claim as "wholly without merit, both factually and legally." Three days later, Fox filed to drop its lawsuit.

O'Reilly is frequently challenged by his critics, who question his accuracy on issues such as the Malmedy massacre (O'Reilly incorrectly blamed American soldiers for a henious war crime of which they were in fact victims), and his claim that Inside Edition won two Peabody Awards. In the March 1, 2001 Washington Post Reliable Source column, Al Franken corrected O'Reilly's claim - it was actually a single Polk award (won for reporting that was done after O'Reilly left the show);^[59] - In the same column, O'Reilly admitted to confusing the two awards, and stated, "Al Franken is on a jihad against me." A few days later, O'Reilly changed the story, and stated that he had never made the Peabody claim (O'Reilly Factor, 3/13/01): "Guy says about me, couple of weeks ago, 'O'Reilly said he won a Peabody Award.' Never said it. You can't find a transcript where I said it."

However, on the May 19, 2000 broadcast of the O'Reilly Factor, O'Reilly repeatedly told a guest who brought up his "tabloid" past: "We won Peabody Awards. . . . We won Peabody awards. . . . A program that wins a Peabody Award, the highest award in journalism, and you're going to denigrate it?" O'Reilly had made the same claim on the May 8, 2000 broadcast of the O'Reilly Factor, as well as the claim of a single Peabody on the August 30, 1999 broadcast of the O'Reilly Factor.^[60]

He has also discussed controversial topics such as his annual reports on the Secularization of Christmas, which he calls the "War on Christmas".^[61]

While some have claimed that O'Reilly is really only "entertainment", and not "news", and therefore should not be held to a high standard for factual content, O'Reilly has been quoted as saying that Rush Limbaugh is an entertainer and should not be cited for hard facts, whereas O'Reilly is a journalist.^[30]

The liberal media watch group, Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, has published a book entitled The "Oh Really?" Factor, by author Peter Hart (ISBN 158322601X). The book catalogues what are argued to be distortions and inaccuracies on the part of O'Reilly.

In January 2007, O'Reilly on The O'Reilly Factor stated that Missouri pre-teen Shawn Hornbeck, who was abducted at gunpoint^{[citation needed]} by Michael J. Devlin and held captive by him for four years, had "liked ... his circumstances" and "had a lot more fun" with Devlin than with "his old parents". While some commentators wondered why the young boy had not tried to escape from his captor, O'Reilly went further, flatly stating that "Shawn had the freedom to get away if he wanted to."^[62] Following his remarks, Lowe's canceled its advertising on the O'Reilly Factor. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children also quietly cancelled O'Reilly's scheduled appearance as keynote speaker for the organization. The following month, Devlin was charged with multiple counts of forcible sodomy and producing child pornography.^[63]

The Comedy Central program The Colbert Report, hosted by Stephen Colbert, parodies, among others, The O'Reilly Factor. Colbert has called his character a "well-intentioned, poorly informed, high-status idiot."^[64] Colbert has continued his in-character satirization/criticism of O'Reilly in venues other than "The Colbert Report", most notably at the 2006 White House Correspondents' Association Dinner.

On the January 24, 2007 edition of The O'Reilly Factor O'Reilly said that he was personally responsible for effecting the dismissal of the Roman Catholic Cardinal Archbishop of Boston. "I claim credit for getting Cardinal Law booted out of this country," O'Reilly said, and then stated that his relentless reporting on Cardinal Law's immoral and criminal behavior is why Law was dismissed.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Publicity of biography

Marvin Kitman, author of The Man Who Would Not Shut Up: The Rise of Bill O'Reilly, claims that O'Reilly, who was interviewed by Kitman 29 times, had promised to give a huge publicity send off. He claims that O'Reilly has intimidated FOX News reporters from interviewing Kitman. Kitman also claims (probably jokingly) that he has written the only book that says anything positive about O'Reilly, except for the books O'Reilly has written himself.^[65]

[edit] Sexual harassment lawsuits

On October 13, 2004, O'Reilly Factor producer Andrea Mackris filed a complaint of sexual harassment against O'Reilly^[66] alleging that O'Reilly had made numerous references to "phone sex, vibrators, threesomes, masturbation, the loss of his virginity, and other sexual fantasies."^{[67][68][69][70]} The complaint also sought additional damages and described alleged actions of retaliation by Fox, et.al.^[70]

Earlier that same day, O'Reilly had filed a preemptive lawsuit against Mackris, her lawyer Benedict P. Morelli, and Morelli's law firm for extortion, contending Mackris had privately demanded more than $60 million (USD) to settle a claim of sexual harassment. Morelli did not deny that they had demanded the settlement prior to filing the complaint, but did deny the allegations of extortion. In fact, O'Reilly, Fox, and Morelli had met numerous times for confidential settlement negotiations. It was only when those negotiations broke down that O'Reilly filed the "extortion" lawsuit.

Both cases were settled out of court and all parties agreed to keep the terms of the settlement confidential.^[70]

[edit] Published works

O'Reilly writes a weekly syndicated newspaper column that appears in hundreds of newspapers, including the New York Post and the Chicago Sun-Times.^[71]

He has written five non-fiction books and a novel, entitled Those Who Trespass. The latter, a detective thriller, achieved a great deal of notoriety for its graphic scenes of sex, including adults having sex with teens, and violence. The ending of the book depicts a shower scene very similar to the one described in Andrea Mackris' sexual harassment suit against O'Reilly.

[edit] Books

• Those Who Trespass. Novel.
  Bancroft Press, April 1998; reprint, Broadway Books, February 2004. 288 pages. ISBN 0-9631246-8-4.
• The O'Reilly Factor: The Good, the Bad, and the Completely Ridiculous in American Life. Non-fiction.
  Broadway Books, September 2000; reprint, Broadway Books, March 2002. 224 pages. ISBN 0-7679-0528-8.
  Reached #1 on the New York Times' Non-Fiction Best Seller list.^[72]
• The No Spin Zone. Non-fiction.
  Broadway Books, October 2001; reprint, Broadway Books, March 2003. 208 pages. ISBN 0-7679-0848-1.
  Reached #1 on the New York Times' Non-Fiction Best Seller list.^[72]
• Who's Looking Out For You?. Non-fiction.
  Broadway Books, September 2003; reprint, Broadway Books, September 2004. 224 pages. ISBN 0-7679-1379-5.
  Reached #1 on the New York Times' Non-Fiction Best Seller list.^[72]
• The O'Reilly Factor For Kids: A Survival Guide for America's Families. Non-fiction.
  HarperEntertainment, September 2004; reprint, Harper Paperbacks, September 2005. 208 pages. ISBN 0-06-054424-4.
  Co-authored with Charles Flowers. Best-selling non-fiction children's book of 2005.^[73]
• Culture Warrior. Non-fiction.
  Broadway Books, September 2006. 240 pages. ISBN 0-7679-2092-9.
  Reached #1 on the New York Times' Non-Fiction Best Seller list.^[72]
  Achieved more than one million copies in print in its first three months.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Bill O'Reilly's personal website
• The O'Reilly Factor website
• O'Reilly's syndicated newspaper column
• List of radio stations streaming the O'Reilly Factor
• Seth Ackerman and Peter Hart, "Bill O'Reilly's Sheer O'Reillyness: Don't call him conservative-- but he is" FAIR (July/Aug 2001)
• Mackris v. O'Reilly Court Documents
• Mackris v. O'Reilly, An oratorio based upon the lawsuit, composed by Igor Keller