Bill O'Reilly and the Falklands War

[madurobob]

This is the man who claimed to have demonstrated corage by covering wars from New York with his pen. Why would anybody take anything he says seriously?

which one are we talking about, now?

 

[Cain]

Bill O'Reilly has always been about Bill O'Reilly.

He says he was in a "war zone" when he was in Buenos Aires covering a protest. He's being dishonest again.

Will this stick? No, because he's the face of Fox Views. It's better for the channel if they don't fire him because they're thumbing their nose at the "media elite," something followers in the echo-chamber will unquestionably love. We love it when our guy sticks it to the other guy.

 

[marplots]

The relevant "zone" is wherever Bill happens to be. The no-spin zone, war zone, twilight zone - doesn't matter. He defines the zone.

 

[Cl1mh4224rd]

Here's the CNN article referred to in the Mother Jones article: CBS staffers dispute Bill O'Reilly's 'war zone' story.

All of the people said they're unaware of any civilians being killed in the riot. In O'Reilly's 2001 book, he said "many were killed."

 

[Meed]

I recall Hillary Clinton having a similar incident in which she claimed she was shot at after exiting a helicopter.

 

[Meed]

I suspect these 'lies' may not actually be outright lies. Our memories tend to be worse than we think. On the other hand, they could simply be calculated lies. Or some combination of exaggeration and distorted memory. All of these things seem plausible enough.

 

[Denver]

Saying you saw combat in El Salvador and the Falklands has nothing to do with opinions on politics. He's stating it as if it's fact. That fact that he's political commentator doesn't give him a free pass to lie.

Steve S

There is no expectation of truth from a commentator. And least not from me. There should be from a news editor and anchor. And least to me.

 

[Information Analyst]

I guess if O'Reilly is stupid or crazy enough to think you can be in a "combat situation" in the absence of troops and thousands of miles from where the actual fighting is taking place, it explains a lot of the bollocks he comes out with an a day-to-day basis.

I would imagine that has he not managed to dodge the draft, he would be inflating any service in Vietnam - or even a safer job elsewhere - out of all proportion, as well.

 

[qayak]

There is no expectation of truth from a commentator. And least not from me. There should be from a news editor and anchor. And least to me.

I liked what Jane Curtin said about this on the recent SNL Anniversary Special. "I used to be the only pretty blonde giving out fake news on TV, now they have an entire network of them!" (A picture of FOX News and its anchors appeared behind her.)

FOX covered the SNL event but didn't mention Curtin or her comments.

 

[fuelair]

Bill O'Reilly and the Falklands Fantasyland War

 

[Spindrift]

FoxNews is doubling down backing Bill.

Of course, FoxNews never doubles down on a bad story.

 

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Has he claimed he was killed in combat yet?

 

[Spindrift]

Has he claimed he was killed in combat yet?

I waiting for him to blame the Falklands War on Hillary or Obama.

 

[qayak]

Has he claimed he was killed in combat yet?

No, but he said that if it weren't for his heroic actions in battle, America would have lost the Falklands too. Since then it's been steady losses, all becoming Muslim "no go" zones.

Bill's a hero dontcha know?!

 

[Jrrarglblarg]

I guess if O'Reilly is stupid or crazy enough to think you can be in a "combat situation" in the absence of troops and thousands of miles from where the actual fighting is taking place, it explains a lot of the bollocks he comes out with an a day-to-day basis.

I would imagine that has he not managed to dodge the draft, he would be inflating any service in Vietnam - or even a safer job elsewhere - out of all proportion, as well.

Oh, was he on the Group W bench too? I didn't know that. College exemption? I suppose I could google it myself.

 

[Psi Baba]

Here is a quote in which he tries to make himself look like a hero, at great risk to his own safety:

"I was in a situation one time, in a war zone in Argentina, in the Falklands, where my photographer got run down and then hit his head and was bleeding from the ear on the concrete. And the army was chasing us. I had to make a decision. And I dragged him off, you know, but at the same time, I'm looking around and trying to do my job, but I figure I had to get this guy out of there because that was more important."

Hell, it almost sounds like he actually pondered the idea of letting the guy bleed to death so that he could keep talking.
But . . .

CNN has interviewed seven people who were there for CBS, and none of them recall anyone from the network being injured.

"If somebody got hurt, we all would have known," Alvarez said.

In a Friday interview with radio host Hugh Hewitt, O'Reilly said the photographer's last name was Moreno. Roberto Moreno was there for CBS. He now lives in Venezuela, and he declined to comment to CNN.

But Mia Fabius, who was the office manager for the CBS Miami bureau at the time, has stayed in touch with Moreno for decades, and she said Moreno has never spoken about any injury in Argentina.

Further, Fabius said no injury report was ever filed.

 

[Olowkow]

There's another O'Reilly story of embellishing as well. Claims he knocked on the door of a Kennedy assassin accomplice and witnessed his suicide, or sumpin'.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/25/oreilly-suicide-mohrenschildt_n_6749182.html

O'Reilly is a narcissistic clown who was fired by CBS for being an idiot, so he wound up at a network that encourages and pays him to be an idiot--the Howdy Doody of journalism. Williams is a serious journalist who seems to have gotten caught up in his own need for attention after being so close to the action and likely developing an admiration for the players. To me his "lies" are qualitatively really no different from O'Reilly's, and I don't see how Brian Williams can retain his position with any future credibility. For journalists such as Richard Engels, credibility is essential to the craft, so O'Reilly, who is not a journalist, will probably remain simply because Fox doesn't value credibility or integrity.

As far as I'm concerned, Fox is an arm of the Republican party encouraging a deeper divide between conservative and liberal points of view, and in many ways a type of political pornography to stimulate old folks. I know three people who are essentially addicted to the rush of hate for Obama and liberals which they get from Fox News personalities, and several others who have no other source of news input than Fox or Limbaugh. I have explained quite a few times how their opinions have been distorted by lies, but they generally don't care.

What bothers me more than the lies or embellishments by people who are tasked with informing us of world events is the potential for apathy and cynicism that these incidents produce. I've seen some posts here reflecting this. Distrust of the media and the inevitable assumption that "they're all liars" is not good for a democracy which relies on the belief that our free press is in fact free and is our link to reality.

 

[TragicMonkey]

Kill them both and let God sort it out.

 

[Jrrarglblarg]

Oh, was he on the Group W bench too? I didn't know that. College exemption? I suppose I could google it myself.

It turns out Bill O'reilly's war record is identical with Bill Clinton's - college, including hiding out in England. No information available if he "inhaled" or not, though. Given the era, I'd guess he did.

 

[Denver]

FoxNews is doubling down backing Bill.

Of course, FoxNews never doubles down on a bad story.

I haven't watched Fox's response, but I expect they must be walking a very careful line. On the one hand, O'Reilly's official position is as a commentator, so he doesn't have the same standard to be held to as a news reporter: that is, he comments, colors, editorializes, opines, where a news reporter should mainly just report.

On the other hand, I think a strategy at Fox is to try, as much as possible, to convince their audience that their opinion pieces are as good as fact. So I imagine they can't come out and say, hey, he's just a commentator.

Because of that, if they want to try to maintain their audience thinking O'Reilly (and similar others) are equal to real reporters, they are going to be backed into a corner and have to punish him in some way that seems at least similar to Williams, to show they are 'serious' about the news. (With, of course, much less suspension time)