Media Matters for America, October 25, 2007

O'Reilly again ignored CNN and MSNBC coverage of Medal of Honor ceremony in attacking media

A day after accusing CNN and MSNBC of ignoring the Medal of Honor ceremony for Lt. Michael Murphy during prime time, Bill O'Reilly once again blasted the two networks for their lack of coverage of the event, asserting, "It's just another example of anti-military media matters in the USA." However, although CNN and MSNBC did not report on the story during the 8-11 p.m. ET prime-time period, on the day the family received the honor, MSNBC reported on Murphy at least five times throughout the day, broadcasting the award ceremony live; and CNN covered the story on at least seven distinct occasions. Read more

O'Reilly:"[S]tudies indicate ... most teachers ... bring in a anti-American viewpoint to the sense that they don't preach about the nobility ofAmerica"

During the October 24 edition of his Fox News show, Bill O'Reilly asserted: "[I]t seems to me, and the studies indicate, that most teachers -- high school and college in the United States -- are left-wingers. That they bring in a anti-American viewpoint to the sense that they don't preach about the nobility of America, they teach about the deficits. Now, I think you have to teach both." O'Reilly made his comments during the "Culture War" segment of his show, which he introduced by saying, "[W]ith many public schools teaching diversity, tolerance, and self-esteem
rather than history, civics, and geography, lots of American kids know little or nothing about their country, including what they owe their country." O'Reilly then aired a video clip showing students answering questions such as, "What do you think it means to be an American?" After airing the clip, O'Reilly stated: "We went out random. You know, just, we didn't do any study -- just pulled the kids between 13 and 17 with target audience of my book." Read more

Bill "everybody's got to relax on all this gay stuff" O'Reilly keeps talking about J.K. Rowling's gay wizard

Bill O'Reilly -- who, as Media Matters for America previously noted, said on the August 15 edition of his Fox News show, "I think everybody's got to relax on all this gay stuff" -- repeatedly discussed the recent revelation by J.K. Rowling, author of the best-selling Harry Potter series, that a primary character in the books, Hogwarts Headmaster Albus Dumbledore, is gay. O'Reilly talked about the revelation with co-host E.D. Hill on the October 22 edition of his radio show and again on two consecutive nights on his television program: on October 23 with Entertainment Weekly senior editor Tina Jordan, and the following night with comedian Dennis Miller. Read more

Beck falsely clamed "the globe was the hottest" in 1934 -- it was actually 2005

Glenn Beck declared that "the globe was the hottest" in 1934; in fact, according to NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, the hottest year on Earth was actually 2005, and 1934 -- now designated the hottest year on record in the U.S. after a revision in climate data -- does not even rank among the globe's five warmest years. Beck also suggested that the statistic "was, I believe, intentionally distorted by the guy the left holds up as the scientist on global warming," an apparent reference to GISS director James Hansen. In August, the GISS revised historical climate data because "the monthly more-or-less-automatic updates of our global temperature analysis had a flaw in the U.S. data." Read more