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Study Of Primary Coverage Doesn't Show What O'Reilly Thinks It Does

April 13, 2012 3:16 am ET by Marcus Feldman

Tonight on his Fox News show, Bill O'Reilly hyped a recent study by George Mason University's Center for Media and Public Affairs (CMPA) that covered stories on Republican primaries. O'Reilly said that, according to the study, claims that Fox News Channel "shills for the GOP" simply aren't true. From The O'Reilly Factor:

O'REILLY: A new study by George Mason University says that the three networks and Fox News are pretty much the same when it comes to scrutinizing the Republican field. Isn't that interesting? While the president and the Democratic Party believe FNC shills for the GOP, an academic study says that is not the case.

But as viewers of Fox know, any study purportedly showing a lack of bias in Fox's reporting should be met with skepticism. And there is certainly reason to be skeptical of the CMPA study. For one thing, they don't include specific methodology, other than to note that their researchers are trained to follow existing coding behaviors. For another, CMPA's president, Robert Lichter, is a former paid contributor for Fox News.

Then there is the issue that the study does not show what O'Reilly claims it shows. The study evaluated "ABC, CBS, and NBC evening news" but only looked at "the first half hour of Fox News Channel's 'Special Report.' " The coverage of the first half hour of Special Report, Fox's flagship "straight news" program, is certainly not representative of the entire channel, which has openly conservative opinion programming.

Of course, this study aside, Fox News has time and again shown that it acts as the communications arm of the Republican Party. Its programming is at times nearly identical to Republican National Committee campaign ads and it has a history of passing off Republican research as its own, typos and all.

Tags: Bill O'Reilly, The O'Reilly Factor

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    • Author by thaneb (April 13, 2012 7:31 am ET)
      7  
      Robert Lichter's thought bubble--Let's design a study to show what Fox wants it to show.
      Report Abuse
    • Author by Vryus (April 13, 2012 8:18 am ET)
      9  
      Then there is the issue that the study does not show what O'Reilly claims it shows.


      This is not a unique occurrence.
      Report Abuse
    • Author by historygeek001 (April 13, 2012 8:37 am ET)
      8  
      "Hey, the Foxpac shill is saying what we want him to say, so all you liberals hung up on facts should just shut up and pretend he's not a shill."
      Report Abuse
    • Author by pete x tp (April 13, 2012 9:14 am ET)
      8  
      It's utterly ridiculous to compare half-hour shows to FAUX"News". I also can't seem to find instances of an MSM anchor claiming that President Obama is a Kenyan, Indonesian, atheist, Muslim, racist, fascist, communist, traitor who is out to destroy America because he was raised by radicals.
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      • Author by Area Man (April 13, 2012 10:19 am ET)
        4  
        The lamestream media are also out to destroy America. Why else would they ignore that story? Its quite obvious and I'm surprised you couldn't see that.
        Report Abuse
        • Author by johnsta (April 13, 2012 1:55 pm ET)
          1  
          The ONLY people that are for destroying America are the right wing - Fox News/Rush/Glenn Beck believing morons in it.

          Report Abuse
          • Author by Invent a Scandal (April 13, 2012 4:45 pm ET)
               
            Glenn Beck is gonna be back strong, buddy. You better believe it. As soon as gold prices stabilize.
            Report Abuse
        • Author by angels4light (April 13, 2012 5:37 pm ET)
             
          Since the 'lamestream' media is purely FNC, who is the also you refer to?
          Report Abuse
          • Author by mari2jj (April 14, 2012 4:23 am ET)
               
            Actually it is Simple Sarah's mantra. But alas, perhaps BillO has chimed in, What a colossal duet they make also. Talk about birds of a feather flocking together.
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          • Author by mari2jj (April 14, 2012 4:23 am ET)
               
            Actually it is Simple Sarah's mantra. But alas, perhaps BillO has chimed in, What a colossal duet they make also. Talk about birds of a feather flocking together.
            Report Abuse
    • Author by Maimonides 03 (April 13, 2012 10:25 am ET)
      8  
      Well,I'm sure this "study" will show its broken nature within hours of being examined.

      FOX donated millions to the Republican party and the Republican Govenors fund, the Tea Party and gave them free ait time.

      IF you watch the channel in a 24 cycle, or longer...the only real way to examine a 24 hour news station, the bias is obvious.

      On the study focusing only on the first half-hour of the news hour, that is a ridiculous sample to examine. Basic stats will tell you that.,
      Report Abuse
      • Author by angels4light (April 13, 2012 5:39 pm ET)
           
        It is along the lines of:

        "Look, we examined these other networks for their coverage over a 2 week period, and found they covered Republicans pretty much the same as FNC did in this 3 second segment."
        Report Abuse
    • Author by erieavenue215 (April 13, 2012 11:26 am ET)
      3  
      This is nothing new from the GREATEST PROPAGANDIST/HYPOCRITE, in the history of cable T.V. If anyone honestly believes, that FOX isn't in the tank for Romney (ESPECIALLY O'REILLY,) and doesn't SHILL FOR THE RNC, then that person is either, DUMB, BLIND, OR STUPID, OR ALL OF THE ABOVE.
      Report Abuse
      • Author by johnsta (April 13, 2012 1:56 pm ET)
        2  
        IDK, you are mostly correct, but I think Hannity beats O'Reilly on the slime scale by just a bit. It's a close race...
        Report Abuse
      • Author by Invent a Scandal (April 13, 2012 4:47 pm ET)
           
        or a Dumb, Blind, Stupid conservative.
        Report Abuse
    • Author by jdkinpa (April 13, 2012 11:44 am ET)
      1  
      Lets see, Bill assures his faithful watchers that there is a 'study' that shows FAUX SNOOZE is no better or worse that the MSM when it comes to 'scrutinizing' the Republican field. And to be 'fair and balanced' the criteria used for the study is left to the watchers imagination.

      FAUX SNOOZE and all of its 'straight' and otherwise programming has taken Doublethink to the Nth degree of perfections:

      “The power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them....To tell deliberate lies while genuinely believing in them, to forget any fact that has become inconvenient, and then, when it becomes necessary again, to draw it back from oblivion for just as long as it is needed, to deny the existence of objective reality and all the while to take account of the reality which one denies - all this is indispensably necessary. Even in using the word doublethink it is necessary to exercise doublethink. For by using the word one admits that one is tampering with reality; by a fresh act of doublethink one erases this knowledge; and so on indefinitely, with the lie always one leap ahead of the truth." Orwell, George (1949). Nineteen Eighty-Four. Martin Secker & Warburg Ltd, London, part 1, chapter 3, pp 32


      Forget Ayn Rand as the conservatives go to book for ideas and philosophy.
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    • Author by grmce (April 13, 2012 11:56 am ET)
      1  
      For one thing, they don't include specific methodology, other than to note that their researchers are trained to follow existing coding behaviors.
      And how, pray tell, do the "findings" differentiate from mere assertion?
      Report Abuse
    • Author by StewartIII (April 13, 2012 11:58 am ET)
      3 8
      That's not exactly true. Bill did mention the fact that the FOX News part of the study was about Special Report. It's true he didn't mention it in his talking points memo, but immediately after that he brought on Bret to talk about the study and pointed out the fact that the FOX News part of the study was about Special Report.

      So once again Media Matters lies about FOX News by distorting the truth.
      Report Abuse
      • Author by jdkinpa (April 13, 2012 12:09 pm ET)
        4 2
        And only a devoted O'Lielly fan would know that of course. Now that we've got that out of the way. What do you say about the assertion that....

        Fox News has time and again shown that it acts as the communications arm of the Republican Party. Its programming is at times nearly identical to Republican National Committee campaign ads and it has a history of passing off Republican research as its own, typos and all.


        To tell deliberate lies while genuinely believing in them, to forget any fact that has become inconvenient, and then, when it becomes necessary again, to draw it back from oblivion for just as long as it is needed, to deny the existence of objective reality and all the while to take account of the reality which one denies
        Report Abuse
      • Author by notsure5 (April 13, 2012 2:29 pm ET)
        1  
        Did he offer it as a correction? As in "I am sorry, I was incorrect in my earler statement, it is not the entirety of Fox but one half of once specific show." If not, that is not evidence of him being fair, but being knowingly deceptive.

        If you could link the clip that would be great.
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    • Author by draftedin68 (April 13, 2012 2:00 pm ET)
         

      An important part of BO's brain must be missing - the part that remembers things he said a month, a week, a day or an hour ago.

      Report Abuse
      • Author by draftedin68 (April 13, 2012 2:07 pm ET)
           

        And by the way, BO, do you really expect us to believe that FOX NEWS, created and run by a decades-long GOP dirty trickster, is anything but a propaganda outlet for Wingerism?

        Really?

        Report Abuse
    • Author by Jeremy Danials (April 13, 2012 4:45 pm ET)
      2  
      Fair and Balanced


      You keep using those words. I do not think they mean what you think they mean.
      Report Abuse
    • Author by Persephone (April 13, 2012 6:28 pm ET)
      1  
      Massive problems w/the study notwithstanding, by asserting that Fox was just as 'balanced' as ABC/NBC/CBS,isn't O'Reilly also stating that the supposedly biased "Liberal" line he spouts verbatim is also a lie?

      I.e. -- If NBC etc. treated the GOP candidates in a similar manner to FOX, if FOX is "fair and balanced", then so is the "Lamestream" Media, Right Bill-O?
      Report Abuse
    • Author by ozan (April 15, 2012 3:08 am ET)
         
      Bill O'Reilly is one the best commentators in this free country.
      Unlike some.... he doesn't fabricate or delete parts of stories to suit his agendas.
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