Posted on 02/26/2003 1:50:55 PM PST by fight_truth_decay
W hat's next? Is Bill O'Reilly, the Father Coughlin of cable TV, going to take credit for breaking the story of Watergate, exposing the Pentagon Papers and getting the scoop on the Iran/ Contra scandal? This guy is probably shameless enough to claim authorship of ``Primary Colors.''
O'Reilly, the Joe Isuzu of journalism, has essentially ripped off eight years of reporting by The Tampa Tribune's Michael Fechter while claiming to be some sort of moralist arbiter of professional ethics.
``Believe me when I tell you: Any intellectual dishonesty on the part of any powerful press person in this country will be exposed on `The Factor,' '' declared journalism's answer to Willie Sutton as his TV show aired the other day over the Deutschland uber Ailes Network.
Sigh.
Oh, yoo hoo! Mr. O'Reilly? When are you going to start with yourself?
This guy claiming to be a standard bearer of intellectual honesty is like Heidi Fleiss pretending to be a spokeswoman for virginity.
Standing Alone?!
After the federal indictment last week of the University of South Florida's Sami Al-Arian, O'Reilly, who's like William F. Buckley with rabies, insisted he was the first person to break the story of the professor's alleged ties to the terrorist Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
The claim was predicated on an appearance by Al-Arian on the Witch Trial Network shortly after Sept. 11, 2001, in which the Torquemada of television castigated the professor over his supposed connections to Middle Eastern bad guys.
Let's put it this way: It was not an ``American Idol'' moment for Al-Arian. Gary Condit came off as a more credible public figure.
Yes, indeed, Al-Arian's national interview had an incendiary effect, which quickly led to his suspension from campus by USF President Judy Genshaft.
``Thus, we stood alone on Sami Al- Arian,'' preened the Oliver Cromwell of mass communications.
Drivel.
`` `We' stood alone?'' Oh, really? Do you have a mouse in your pocket, Bill, or is that your Rush Limbaugh Wannabe Club decoder ring?
What the Bubba the Love Sponge of Self-Promotion always conveniently forgets to tell his viewers is that he used material from years of reporting by Fechter about the USF/Palestinian Islamic Jihad connection to prepare for his interview with Al-Arian.
Maybe O'Reilly, the Penn (& Teller!) of chitchat, missed those pieces while he was busy anchoring ``Inside Edition'' and those fast-breaking news stories about Madonna's breast cones.
Like the rest of his colleagues on the Crock Network, the Clifford Irving of coaxial cable can't be bothered to credit Fechter's dogged reporting while claiming to have broken the Al- Arian story nationally.
Oh, Bartender!
Did O'Reilly, the Piltdown Man of Rupert Murdoch's media empire, provide some national attention to the story? Sure. No problem there. How nice for the No Spittle Zone.
But ranting and raving and conducting a few foaming-at-the-mouth interviews with the usual subjects about Middle Eastern terrorism is not the same thing as reporting, advancing a story.
Or, put another way, the Nathan Thurm of talking heads couldn't carry Fechter's typewriter ribbon.
O'Reilly arrived at the conclusion the other day that a sort of war had broken out between what he described as the elite media - which consists of people who think he's a creepy, sleazy, insecure guy who isn't man enough to give credit where credit is due - and the so-called ``free media,'' which is supposed to be him.
Alas, the Joe Pyne of Whine is wrong again.
There is nothing remotely ``free'' about the Morton Downey Jr. Lite Network. It is a cable channel. Ergo, when you write a check for your cable bill, you are paying to have access to Bill O'Reilly and his Froth Factor.
And if taking note of his misappropriation of someone else's work product makes those of us on the ink- stained wretch side of the news business ``elitists,'' well, what can you say except: ``Oh, bartender? Another beer, please! And some bar nuts, too.''
Columnist Daniel Ruth can be reached at (813) 259-7599.
Okay, so it's a little rough around the edges, but gee whiz
Block that metaphor!
The fact that it was in a newspaper is just more evidence of their irrelevance.
My God, this is embarrassing even for a child to write.
The transcript is almost comic in its crude tabloid-like melodrama: USF "may be a hotbed for Islamic militants," O'Reilly warned his audience. He quoted a speech Al-Arian gave 15 years ago: "You did a little speaking engagement in Cleveland, and you were quoted as saying Jihad is our path. Victory to Islam. Death to Israel. Did you say that?" Al-Arian tried gamely to defend himself, saying that "death to Israel" meant "death to occupation, death to apartheid." He also tried to point out how similarly incendiary President Bush's talk of a "crusade" seemed to much of the Muslim world.
O'Reilly wasn't having any of it. "I appreciate your coming on the program, but if I was the CIA I'd follow you wherever you went. I'm saying I'd be your shadow, doctor."
In a sense, that was exactly what happened. O'Reilly's interview, and several Fox rebroadcasts, inspired hundreds of e-mails and calls to USF, and numerous death threats. That barrage of mail landed on the desk of USF's president, Judy Genshaft, who had taken the job just 18 months earlier. And Genshaft was faced with a dilemma: How to balance those threats with the tradition of academic freedom?
Genshaft's initial response, three days after the O'Reilly show, was to suspend Al-Arian with pay. It was, she declared, a step designed to protect both professor and campus. "I will protect this university as a safe and secure learning environment," she said, and pointing out that Al-Arian was not under any investigation by the FBI or police.
In retrospect, it seemed a move designed to buy time. And it didn't work. After O'Reilly, the Tampa Tribune -- the more tabloid of the area's two major newspapers -- decided to make a crusade of its own, ressurecting the years-old charges in its editorial pages and news columns, branding Al-Arian a "hate-monger" in its headlines..
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