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DOCUMENTED PROOF: Bill O'Reilly Is A Profane Purveyor Of Propaganda

by News Corpse rcs1
Thu May 03, 2007 at 11:16:58 AM EST

originally posted Thu May 03, 2007 at 12:24:49 AM EST -- bumped

Researchers at Indiana University have published the results of a study that documents the intimidation and propagandizing employed by Fox News' resident bully, Bill O'Reilly. The study, sub-titled, "Revisiting World War Propaganda Techniques," finally paints an academically verified picture1 of O'Reilly's repulsive modus operandi. Contrary to O'Reilly's assertion that he doesn't, "do personal attacks," the IU study spells out the truth:

The IU researchers found that O'Reilly called a person or a group a derogatory name once every 6.8 seconds, on average, or nearly nine times every minute during the editorials that open his program each night. [See the Stalking Points Memos].

Brought to you by...
News Corpse, The Internet's Chronicle Of Media Decay.


commentary :: :: :: buzz-it!
This may not seem like news, but we now have data that is backed up by the reputation of researchers from a respectable American university. While it may appear that O'Reilly is a cartoonish character, he is following the model of Father Charles Coughlin, the early 20th century American racist/fascist. There were probably those who thought Coughlin was cartoonish at the time. And like Coughlin, O'Reilly does have a huge audience of blind ducklings that take his word as gospel. The lesson we must learn is that this sort of evil cannot be ignored.

O'Reilly is man that cannot say the word "left" without appending modifiers like "far," "ultra," "committed," or "looney." He is a man who is convinced that every critic is a "smear merchant." And his opponents are never merely disagreeing with him, they are "vile."

While the researchers never overtly associate O'Reilly with the work of his propagandisitc predecessors (i.e. Goebbels, Coughlin), they do point out some more subtle connections. The study itemized seven propaganda devices as defined by the Institute for Propaganda Analysis. O'Reilly was found to have employed six of them nearly 13 times each minute:


  • Name calling - giving something a bad label to make the audience reject it without examining the evidence.

  • Glittering generalities - the opposite of name calling.

  • Card stacking - the selective use of facts and half-truths.

  • Bandwagon - appeals to the desire, common to most of us, to follow the crowd.

  • Plain folks - an attempt to convince an audience that they, and their ideas, are "of the people".

  • Transfer - carries over the authority, sanction and prestige of something we respect or dispute to something the speaker would want us to accept.

  • Testimonials - involving a respected (or disrespected) person endorsing or rejecting an idea or person.


Sound familiar? Every now and then, an academic institution will conduct an exercise in the obvious. It would not take much in the way of intuition to have predicted the results of this study, but it is still useful to have compiled an accurate and scholarly paper on the subject to wave in the face of skeptics, not that O'Reilly's minions will pay much mind. They will likely respond with the indignation of Stephen Colbert and proclaim that they don't care much for "book-learnin." And we know, because Colbert has told us, that the truth has a well known liberal bias.

[1] I have also painted a picture of O'Reilly's repulsive modus operandi. Actually, it is an interactive artwork that documents O'Reilly's attempts to demean and belittle his perceived enemies. Unfortunately, the piece is a day or two from completion. I was surprised that this study from IU was released so close to my completion of this artwork. Coincidence? I'll have the artwork posted at News Corpse by Saturday.

Display:
DOCUMENTED PROOF: Bill O'Reilly Is A Profane Purveyor Of Propaganda | 4 comments (4 topical, 0 hidden)
We always knew it... (5.00 / 1) (#1)
...but now we have proof.

by News Corpse on Thu May 03, 2007 at 12:31:29 AM EST
I am so (5.00 / 1) (#2)
pleased that News Corps offer for the Wall Street Journal was rejected.  Can you imagine how much worse the editorial pages would be were O'Reilly to gain access to them?  

by standingup on Thu May 03, 2007 at 01:54:19 PM EST
Don't relax just yet. (5.00 / 1) (#3)
Only the current offer was rejected. Murdoch could sweeten the offer and there may be offers from other media companies like the New York Times or the Washington Post Co. Even Google has been mentioned in speculation. This could drag on for a while.

Murdoch has deeper pockets and a greater committement to carrying debt over a long period of time than the other parties. Michael Bloomberg might have been a strong rival, but he said he's not interested. So the nightmare scenario may still come to pass.

by News Corpse on Thu May 03, 2007 at 03:20:44 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Father Coughlin's other child (5.00 / 1) (#4)
I thought it was a great story on Father Coughlin. I wonder if there couldn't be a follow up on the strange transformation of CNN's Lou Dobbs.

He began his career as a business news commentator. I don't know anything about his earlier career but he showed up on CNN I would say sometime around 2001 although I don't remember the dates.

Then after several years a strange transformation began. First he began to colour his hair which had been grey/white to a light red. After that he began to cover general news events. His facial expressions and gestures became more expressive, and the tone of his delivery also altered to become more dramatic and slowly but surely he transformed himself into a populist, a spokesman for the middle class.

These days he doesn't bother to pretend to be objective in his coverage. His main target is the spanish speaking population. How dare they speak Spanish in this country. He is vicious on the subject of illegal aliens, conflating the act of crossing the border illegally with violent crimes against people and property.

He also goes after globalization and the growing loss of American jobs. Again it is the fault of our government's softness on foreign governments like China who are out to get us.

There was a period when he had a hostile hectoring interview style against those who disagreed with him on this and other questions. Clearly the network made him tone it down.

One of the strangest features of the show is the kind of tete a tetes he conducts with "reporters" on the show. These are scripted give and take by him and the so-called reporter with highly dramatized mannerisms on both sides and knowing nods.

He has written a book which of course is hawked on the show and he frequently reads e-mails urging him to run for president or other political office.

Dobbs, like Reilly, is trying to channel popular discontent. If times get worse then people like this can, I fear, become dangerous rather than just ludicrous. He is exploiting real problems in this country such as the growing dichotomy between the very rich and the rest of us--but then Hitler and Mussolini also claimed to represent the little guy.

by carol white on Thu May 03, 2007 at 08:43:48 PM EST

DOCUMENTED PROOF: Bill O'Reilly Is A Profane Purveyor Of Propaganda | 4 comments (4 topical, 0 hidden)

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