It appears that even Fox News, which has so vociferously defended host Bill O’Reilly in recent weeks despite allegations he exaggerated his reporting in “war zones” is tired of trying to stand up for the embattled O’Reilly. In fact, Fox is even admitting that O’Reilly is indeed a liar.
What led Fox News to this conclusion? It seems the straw that broke the proverbial camel’s back involves a claim O’Reilly made in his 2013 book “Keep It Pithy: Useful Observations in a Tough World: An Essential Collection of Writings By One of the Most Powerful Voices in Media Today.” O’Reilly stated he had witnessed:
?Irish terrorists kill and maim their fellow citizens in Belfast with bombs.”
Turns out that isn’t even close to being the truth, as a Fox News spokesman acknowledged over the weekend:
“O?Reilly was not an eyewitness to any bombings or injuries in Northern Ireland. Instead, he was shown photos of bombings by Protestant police officers.”
Just a minor discrepancy: he looked at photos instead of actually witnessing what he says he saw with his own eyes. Where I come from, we call that by it’s rightful name: bullshit!
This latest stretching of the truth to the point of breaking comes on the heels of O’Reilly alleging that he reported from a “war zone”during the Falklands War between Great Britain and Argentina. In reality, neither O’Reilly or any other American reporter were allowed anywhere near the conflict. Instead, the Fox host reported from Buenos Aires.
Additionally, O’Reilly also claimed he had been standing outside the door of a friend of JFK assassin Lee Harvey Oswald when the man took his life with a shotgun. Reporters who worked with O’Reilly say that was impossible as the incident took place in Miami on the same day they saw O’Reilly in a Dallas newsroom where all of them worked.
Considering that NBC News suspended Brian Williams for six months without pay for some of his exaggerated claims of what he saw during the Iraq war, one cannot help but wonder why Fox News hasn’t done the same with O’Reilly.
Then again, it may have something to do with the simple fact that Fox has no desire to be a news organization. That would simply get in the way of their true mission: continuously broadcasting Republican propaganda.
