On Tuesday's O'Reilly Factor on Fox News, political pundit Bill O'Reilly claimed "the American media overwhelmingly favoring Barack Obama over Mitt Romney" would lead to slanted news coverage that "will give the President about 3% or 4% of the popular vote" in the general election.
According to MRC, O'Reilly referred to studies that demonstrated the media "favors the more liberal candidate, and has for decades."
A recent sampling of news stories from US national print outlets, TV broadcast and radio transcripts covering the 2012 election does not support O'Reilly's claims, however. In news stories and broadcast transcripts analyzed over the last three months, Republicans are quoted at a 44% higher rate than Democrats a new study found. Additionally, the ratio of positive to negative coverage was 17.1% more critical of Obama than Romney according to media watchdog group The 4th Estate.
But O'Reilly sees clear bias from the left, arguing on his program that the electoral impact of the media being in the tank for the Democratic Party "gives the Democrats a major advantage because their agenda, whether it's bashing Mitt Romney or promoting the President, will be covered far more extensively than the Republican agenda."
"Second, stories that make the President look bad will be played down in the national press. While anything Mitt Romney does will be described as a gaffe, a mistake or just plain dumb.
" O'Reilly referenced a discussion with media critic Bernie Goldberg, who told Fox News viewers: "Look, obviously journalists are Barack Obama's most loyal base. They will not abandon him and they've got too much invested in him."
Goldberg claimed that 86% of US network news coverage of Romney's recent gaffe-filled overseas trip focused on his missteps and the angry reactions of stunned politicians rather than on the substance of the trip itself.
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Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.seanomelb | Aug 14, 2012, 06:19 PM EDT
No use replying to irishamrep the silly fool has left the building.
lokionline | Aug 13, 2012, 05:33 PM EDT
@irishamrep. You clearly have little connection left with your "Irish" roots. The Irish people are overwhelmingly in favour of policies that would never be supported by the current hard right in the US.
irishamrep | Aug 12, 2012, 11:52 PM EDT
This is disgusting, I was always so proud of my Irish heritage but no longer! I'm finished with the Irish Central! You're a bunch of bigoted, ignorant fools. You don't have the faintest idea what you are talking about. The liberal freaks are destroying the USA soon there will be no place for us to immigrate to!You wont see me reading Irish Central again I'm done! I think I'll go watch O'Reilly!
seanomelb | Aug 12, 2012, 07:19 PM EDT
I watched the "no spin zone today" Judge Judy.
POL O L | Aug 12, 2012, 03:27 PM EDT
Fox News,I love it as it makes me Laugh.I love O Reilly.The Guy is so full of it.I miss that Tea Party Guy who has his own station,Muppet in my view.Hello!! Wake up over there,Decide for yourself.
trconnors | Aug 12, 2012, 03:04 PM EDT
when will you stop publishing what these two ailes punk boys drool out. Neither have been right about anything!!m Bernie Goldberg??? Are you joking?
Robbie69 | Aug 12, 2012, 01:05 PM EDT
The liberal bias in the media is one of the biggest lies from the far-right. I am a newspaper journalist, and all the newspapers and TV stations are owned by corporations and fat cats who care more about enriching themselves than any progressive policies. The corporate fat cats who control the media are all wealthy Republicans. They control the editorial boards. Bill O'Reilly is once again full of himself and his lament. It sounds to me that he has already written off the Romney-Ryan campaign as LOSERS.
hancock | Aug 12, 2012, 02:34 AM EDT
Who cares what you think, you're not Americans . Mind your own business.
seanomelb | Aug 12, 2012, 01:12 AM EDT
Bush like a good right winger ran away from the call-up!! the coward
hancock | Aug 11, 2012, 11:19 PM EDT
This is news, the lefty press worships Obama.
irishpjk | Aug 11, 2012, 08:51 PM EDT
wtf The problem is not the liberal media; it is the people who are too lazy to find out the facts for themselves. Remember G W Bush, the media made false statements about his military service very few of us checked it out for ourselves. They also accused him of trying to privatize social security, what he wanted to do was take it out of government control and put the person paying into it in charge of the biggest part of it. Who in his right mind wants to have the government in charge of anything to do with their money, just look into to postal service? Liberals fear fox because if you face the the truth then you know Obama will destroy this country and our grandchildern will be the ones paying for it.Nuff said.
mayoman | Aug 11, 2012, 08:30 PM EDT
Typical O'Reilly whining. Romney screws up, the press reports it, and O'Reilly immediately cries that the entire Right Wing are victims of mythic "liberal media bias". What a buffoon! And this from a guy who works for Rupert Murdock, and the old Republican operative, Roger Ailes.
maireadinmelb | Aug 11, 2012, 08:09 PM EDT
And the right wing propaganda machine, oops I mean fox, will give romney an unfair advantage!! Get over your self O'Reilly!
Eschetic | Aug 11, 2012, 07:33 PM EDT
I trust no one seriously takes O'Reilly's right wing clown antics seriously. He long ago stopped being a serious commentator as opposed to either comedian or shill. If we're talking TRUTH, the media is bending over so far backwards to be "fair" to Romney & company that it amounts to a serious advantage to his crew (as witness Anderson Cooper's recent "fact check" on political ads where he rode a mild chronological distortion in an Obama supporting ad much harder than an actual LIE in a Romney ad!). We have long known that the right wing views ALL honest reporting as "biased" and factual reporting of conservative voting records as "mud slinging," so we are prepared for the campaign to come. Depressed and sad about the mire we have to slog through for the next two and a half months as we fight for good government, but prepared.
cillowen | Aug 11, 2012, 06:23 PM EDT
o'reilly will no doubt give Fox's fair and balanced Repugs side of things.
seanomelb | Aug 11, 2012, 06:11 PM EDT
A right wing announcer(O'Reilly) talking on the Fox/GOP channel slates the free press and uses Goldberg as an expert, who is never right about anything ,maybe it was a comedy act.
EphraimKibbey | Aug 11, 2012, 03:00 PM EDT
@ceceann - Our LOCAL broadcast Fox affiliate does a great job of presenting both the local and national news fairly and professionally. Their "Reality Check" segment each night has revealed indepth information about the Ron Paul delegate take over attempt and its suppression by the Romney campaign that I only occasionally have seen mentioned on the Maddow show and no where else. It is the CABLE Fox News that is soooo UNFAIR and UNBALANCED that they stand out from the REAL news media as a national joke.
MarcoHart | Aug 11, 2012, 01:51 PM EDT
It's a good thing the conservative media like Bill O'Reilly's Fox doesn't do the same thing for Romney. Oh wait...they do.
ceceann | Aug 11, 2012, 01:35 PM EDT
The major networks are liberal? Fox news is conservative? If so, Fox is outnumbered and that doesn't sound as if it is a fair fight. Why are liberals so afraid of Fox? If you do not agree with what you hear, you do not have to listen. On the other hand, if you want to hear local news and you are conservative, you will be forced to listen to the liberal major networks.
joreilly | Aug 11, 2012, 01:17 PM EDT
ONLY BILLY O' WOULD KNOW WHAT SLANTED NEWS WAS...........I thought he was moving to Ireland if Obama was elected 4 yrs.ago......WHAT'S KEEPING HIM ? PERHAPS HE'd BRING SEAN HANNITY WITH HIM ???????
susan724 | Aug 11, 2012, 01:16 PM EDT
Bigdaddy - and its a bunch of conservaative investors out of Palm Beach Florida who run that rag publication - Newsmax.
susan724 | Aug 11, 2012, 01:12 PM EDT
LOL sounds like wittle Biwie is scared. Another Obama administration and his job is on the line - no more talking points, Biwie...
BigDaddy | Aug 11, 2012, 11:28 AM EDT
At your recommendation, I read the article from NewsMax in which Cheney(pathological liar of the highest order)sings the praises of Ed Klein's book. This is the same Ed Klein who wrote about Hillary Clinton and, well read for yourself...Politico criticized the book for "serious factual errors, truncated and distorted quotes and overall themes (that) don't gibe with any other serious accounts of Clinton's life."...So Irish Central recommends that I go to NewsMax to read an article about an author who lies about the people he writes about, is published by Regnery Press which has virtually cornered the market on books that lie about people and, hold on to your knickers, they will let me read this for only $4.95(US)instead of the published price of $27.95. Gee, what could possibly be amiss here? Aren't people stupid enough without your contributing to the downfall of intelligent thought?
JimmieM | Aug 11, 2012, 11:26 AM EDT
If we were a decent semi-intelligent people that kind of lying right to our faces would result in a negative instead of a positive advantage.
redhand32 | Aug 11, 2012, 11:13 AM EDT
Fox "News," --Jonestown Kool-Aid for the mind ! The more you watch, the less you know.
BigDaddy | Aug 11, 2012, 11:01 AM EDT
Why would anyone listen to anything Fox News(sic) has to say, especially O'Reilly? Fox has argued in court that the news doesn't have to be true and even a cursory examination of O'Reilly's claim would prove that Fox believes what it argued. There is no "liberal media" to speak of, there is only corporate media. All the major media are corporate owned and if there is news which interferes with their profit margin it is not reported. If the media was in the tank for liberal causes, what happened in 2000? The media repeated lie after lie about Gore, everything O'Reilly is claiming they only do to conservatives. You have to be very thick to believe anything Fox News reports. btw why is IC "recommending" stories on NewsMax and tales of John Travolta's alleged sexual indiscretions? The former is financed by a right wing lunatic and who gives a rats ass about the latter?