Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community  

Go Back   Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community > The Academy > Tilted Politics


 
 
LinkBack Thread Tools
Old 05-05-2007, 05:07 AM   #1 (permalink)
Human
 
SecretMethod70's Avatar
 
Administrator
Location: Chicago
No Surprise Here: Bill O'Reilly is a Spin Doctor

I doubt this is a shock to anyone, but content analysis by Indiana University has shown Bill O'Reilly to be a significant source of "spin."
[sarcasm]Of course, universities are just another bastion of the liberal elite, so we probably shouldn't trust anything they say.[/sarcasm]

Quote:
Commentator uses name-calling more than once every seven seconds in 'Talking Points Memo'   click to show 

Excerpt...

Among the findings:
  • Fear was used in more than half (52.4 percent) of the commentaries, and O'Reilly almost never offered a resolution to the threat. For example, in a commentary on "left-wing" media unfairly criticizing Attorney Gen. Alberto Gonzales for his role in the Abu Ghraib scandal, O'Reilly considered this an example of America "slowly losing freedom and core values," and added, "So what can be done? Unfortunately, not much."
  • The researchers identified 22 groups of people that O'Reilly referenced in his commentaries, and while all 22 were described by O'Reilly as bad at some point, the people and groups most frequently labeled bad were the political left -- Americans as a group and the media (except those media considered by O'Reilly to be on the right).
  • Left-leaning media (21.6 percent) made up the largest portion of bad people/groups, and media without a clear political leaning was the second largest (12.2 percent). When it came to evil people and groups, illegal aliens (26.8 percent) and terrorists (21.4 percent) were the largest groups.
  • O'Reilly never presented the political left, politicians/government officials not associated with a political party, left-leaning media, illegal aliens, criminals and terrorists as victims. "Thus, politicians and media, particularly of the left-leaning persuasion, are in the company of illegal aliens, criminals, terrorists -- never vulnerable to villainous forces and undeserving of empathy," the authors concluded.
  • According to O'Reilly, victims are those who were unfairly judged (40.5 percent), hurt physically (25.3 percent), undermined when they should be supported (20.3 percent) and hurt by moral violations of others (10.1 percent). Americans, the U.S. military and the Bush administration were the top victims in the data set, accounting for 68.3 percent of all victims.
  • One of O'Reilly's common responses to charges of bias is to come up with one or two examples of "proof" that he is fair to all groups. For example, in October 2005, Dallas Morning News columnist Macarena Hernandez accused O'Reilly of treating the southern border "as the birth of all American ills." O'Reilly responded by showing a video clip in which he had called Mexican workers "good people." He called for a boycott of the newspaper if it did not retract Hernandez' column.
I find it particularly interesting that illegal aliens are more commonly referenced as evil than terrorists. It's incredibly disturbing to me that Bill O'Reilly has such broad influence on Americans while being so utterly transparent in his rhetoric. This is a man who gets upset when he is quoted accurately and, rather than even make any attempt at defending his past statements, attacks the person/organization doing the quoting (see: Media Matters for America).

It seems to me, though, that O'Reilly may be feeling the pressure lately. He's always been a character, but he seems to be losing his temper more and more often (search youtube for his argument with Geraldo for the most extreme example). I have to wonder if he's getting pressure from up above as Fox News Channel's ratings continue to decline (while, admittedly, still remaining at the top of 24-hour cable news channels) and as criticism of him by organizations like Media Matters and the above study continue to get increased attention. Even during an interview in Ireland, he was faced with a reporter asking him about something Media Matters quoted him on.

Clearly, the majority of Americans will not read these findings. Even among the ones who do, there will undoubtedly be those who defend Bill O'Reilly by thinking "well it's true!" Nonetheless, do you think that Bill O'Reilly's influence is slowly declining? Or do you think all the effort to show him for what he is is having little to no effect and that he will be a popular and influential voice in American politics for years/decades to come?
__________________
Le temps détruit tout

"Musicians are the carriers and communicators of spirit in the most immediate sense." - Kurt Elling

Last edited by SecretMethod70; 05-05-2007 at 05:41 AM..
SecretMethod70 is offline  
Old 05-05-2007, 05:25 AM   #2 (permalink)
Getting it.
 
Charlatan's Avatar
 
Super Moderator
Location: Lion City
Is it any surprise that his ratings are dropping? He hitched his cart to the current administration's horse. Now that his horse has gone lame, how long will it take for him to roll to a stop?
__________________
"My hands are on fire. Hands are on fire. Ain't got no more time for all you charlatans and liars."
- Old Man Luedecke
Charlatan is offline  
Old 05-05-2007, 06:12 AM   #3 (permalink)
Lennonite Priest
 
pan6467's Avatar
 
Location: Mansfield, Ohio USA
He still didn't do bad for a guy who came to national attention as a host of one of the sleaziest tabloid tv shows .... Inside Edition.

He's made his millions and got his fame, I'm sure he doesn't give a damn what anyone thinks of him, he's laughing his way to the bank.
__________________
I just love people who use the excuse "I use/do this because I LOVE the feeling/joy/happiness it brings me" and expect you to be ok with that as you watch them destroy their life blindly following. My response is, "I like to put forks in an eletrical socket, just LOVE that feeling, can't ever get enough of it, so will you let me put this copper fork in that electric socket?"
pan6467 is offline  
Old 05-05-2007, 03:48 PM   #4 (permalink)
Thank You Jesus
 
reconmike's Avatar
 
Location: Twilight Zone
Quote:
Originally Posted by SecretMethod70
I doubt this is a shock to anyone, but content analysis by Indiana University has shown Bill O'Reilly to be a significant source of "spin."
[sarcasm]Of course, universities are just another bastion of the liberal elite, so we probably shouldn't trust anything they say.[/sarcasm]

I find it particularly interesting that illegal aliens are more commonly referenced as evil than terrorists. It's incredibly disturbing to me that Bill O'Reilly has such broad influence on Americans while being so utterly transparent in his rhetoric. This is a man who gets upset when he is quoted accurately and, rather than even make any attempt at defending his past statements, attacks the person/organization doing the quoting (see: Media Matters for America).

It seems to me, though, that O'Reilly may be feeling the pressure lately. He's always been a character, but he seems to be losing his temper more and more often (search youtube for his argument with Geraldo for the most extreme example). I have to wonder if he's getting pressure from up above as Fox News Channel's ratings continue to decline (while, admittedly, still remaining at the top of 24-hour cable news channels) and as criticism of him by organizations like Media Matters and the above study continue to get increased attention. Even during an interview in Ireland, he was faced with a reporter asking him about something Media Matters quoted him on.

Clearly, the majority of Americans will not read these findings. Even among the ones who do, there will undoubtedly be those who defend Bill O'Reilly by thinking "well it's true!" Nonetheless, do you think that Bill O'Reilly's influence is slowly declining? Or do you think all the effort to show him for what he is is having little to no effect and that he will be a popular and influential voice in American politics for years/decades to come?
Come on SM, media matters? They are in the same catagory as moveon,org.

I'm not saying that O'Reilly hasn't or doesn't do the things that MM says, but I do not see them nit picking on what Fatass Rosie or the rest of Hollyweird says. How come? Because they are not an independant watch group, they are a left sided group creating hit pieces.

And clearly Americans will never read any findings on Rosie,Penn,Sarandon and the whole lot of Hollyweirders on Media Matters because there will not be any.
__________________
Where is Darwin when ya need him?
reconmike is offline  
Old 05-05-2007, 03:59 PM   #5 (permalink)
 
dc_dux's Avatar
 
Location: Washington DC
Mike...dont you think its a bit disingenuous to focus your response on Media Matters, rather than the source of the survey, Indiana Univ?
__________________
"The perfect is the enemy of the good."
~ Voltaire
dc_dux is offline  
Old 05-05-2007, 04:25 PM   #6 (permalink)
Banned
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by reconmike
Come on SM, media matters? They are in the same catagory as moveon,org.

I'm not saying that O'Reilly hasn't or doesn't do the things that MM says, but I do not see them nit picking on what Fatass Rosie or the rest of Hollyweird says. How come? Because they are not an independant watch group, they are a left sided group creating hit pieces.

And clearly Americans will never read any findings on Rosie,Penn,Sarandon and the whole lot of Hollyweirders on Media Matters because there will not be any.
reconmike, read the piece that I posted in the "attack on Moyers" thread, about O'Reilly and Malkin criticism of Moyers....you can watch it on video, in the article that I linked there. The video begins the instant you click on it.

When you finish watching, and reading the opposing views of what O'Reilly and Malkin "accomplished", I look forward to reading whether, if you had watched that video before you posted in defense of O'Reilly, you would still have had as much enthusiasm for posting.

Also....did you make "Fatass Rosie" such a strong target of criticism, own your own? I'm skeptical that so many of you all spotaneously decided to take on such an irrevelant entertainer, all at the same time. Do you sit and watch "the View"? Aren't there more relevant opponents to take exception to, than entertainers?
host is offline  
Old 05-05-2007, 05:47 PM   #7 (permalink)
Human
 
SecretMethod70's Avatar
 
Administrator
Location: Chicago
Quote:
Originally Posted by reconmike
Come on SM, media matters? They are in the same catagory as moveon,org.

I'm not saying that O'Reilly hasn't or doesn't do the things that MM says, but I do not see them nit picking on what Fatass Rosie or the rest of Hollyweird says. How come? Because they are not an independant watch group, they are a left sided group creating hit pieces.

And clearly Americans will never read any findings on Rosie,Penn,Sarandon and the whole lot of Hollyweirders on Media Matters because there will not be any.
You'll get no argument from me that Media Matters is a liberal watchdog group. That doesn't make their observations of Bill O'Reilly any less true. I'd be happy to see a similar conservative watchdog group, so long as they also stick to the facts, as opposed to the characterizations Bill O'Reilly likes to make. Being biased does not make something wrong, being wrong does.
__________________
Le temps détruit tout

"Musicians are the carriers and communicators of spirit in the most immediate sense." - Kurt Elling
SecretMethod70 is offline  
Old 05-05-2007, 06:05 PM   #8 (permalink)
... a sort of licensed troubleshooter.
 
Willravel's Avatar
 
Agreed, Bill ORly doesn't have a liberal equal that I'm aware of.
Willravel is offline  
Old 05-05-2007, 08:45 PM   #9 (permalink)
Upright
 
ORLY?
2 words:
Keith.
Olbermann.
Goodnite, drive safe.
Judy Taber is offline  
Old 05-05-2007, 08:56 PM   #10 (permalink)
... a sort of licensed troubleshooter.
 
Willravel's Avatar
 
Olbermann may be liberal, but he doesn't lie.
Willravel is offline  
Old 05-05-2007, 09:25 PM   #11 (permalink)
Upright
 
Olby could make a 3 alarm fire sound like a 20 mega-ton nuclear holocaust.

Sorry, the man is incoherent.
Judy Taber is offline  
Old 05-05-2007, 09:38 PM   #12 (permalink)
... a sort of licensed troubleshooter.
 
Willravel's Avatar
 
Olbermann has never called Mexicans 'wet-backs'.
Olbermann never sexually assaulted anyone.
Olbermann never lied and said people took money from Abramoff when they didn't.
Olbermann never attacked the son of a man who died on 9/11.

Bill O'Reilly is more than a spin doctor and politicized pundit. He's a horrible human being.
Willravel is offline  
Old 05-05-2007, 09:43 PM   #13 (permalink)
Upright
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by willravel
oreilly-sucks.com?
This is planet earth, right?

Personal friend of Mr. Olbermann are you?

Last edited by Judy Taber; 05-05-2007 at 09:45 PM..
Judy Taber is offline  
Old 05-05-2007, 09:55 PM   #14 (permalink)
... a sort of licensed troubleshooter.
 
Willravel's Avatar
 
If Olbermann and I were to meet, I'd shake his hand and we'd discuss SportsCenter and Rita Cosby. I suspect we'd get along famously. I'm a liberal, after all.

If Bill O'Reilly and I were to meet, I call him on his BS, he'd end up trying to physically attack me (or sexually assault me) and I'd have to restrain him and accidentally knee him in the johnson repeatedly. Then I'd kick Ann Coulter in the johnson. For good measure.
Willravel is offline  
Old 05-06-2007, 03:28 AM   #15 (permalink)
Illusionary
 
tecoyah's Avatar
 
O'Reilly serves the purpose of extremism in the media. He does for TV what Rush does for radio, and he does it well. Granted this type of Media has become more entertainment than news, and many listen as a reality check to show them what NOT to do, but this in itself serves a valid purpose.
I tend to think of these folks along the same lines as the Daily Show. Both try to work the news into a form of entertainment. The main difference is the template used, one is harsh and leaves me feeling hateful. The other is funny and makes me laugh.

I suppose it comes down to your own personal preference,and whether you want to enjoy the entertainment with a beer....or a shotgun.
tecoyah is offline  
Old 05-06-2007, 06:02 AM   #16 (permalink)
Junkie
 
filtherton's Avatar
 
Location: In the land of ice and snow.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tecoyah
I tend to think of these folks along the same lines as the Daily Show. Both try to work the news into a form of entertainment. The main difference is the template used, one is harsh and leaves me feeling hateful. The other is funny and makes me laugh.
That, and people who watch the daily show are generally more informed than the people who watch fox news(who are generally less informed than most everyone else).
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/ea..._id=1003571876
filtherton is offline  
Old 05-06-2007, 06:30 AM   #17 (permalink)
Human
 
SecretMethod70's Avatar
 
Administrator
Location: Chicago
To be fair, there is a significant difference shown in Pew's survey between the general Fox News viewer and the viewer who specifically watches The O'Reilly Factor.

Summary: Public Knowledge of Current Affairs Little Changed by News and Information Revolutions


__________________
Le temps détruit tout

"Musicians are the carriers and communicators of spirit in the most immediate sense." - Kurt Elling
SecretMethod70 is offline  
Old 05-06-2007, 07:32 AM   #18 (permalink)
Junkie
 
filtherton's Avatar
 
Location: In the land of ice and snow.
True, though it depends on your definition of fair. Are we talking fair as in "fair and balanced" or fair as in the dictionary?
filtherton is offline  
Old 05-06-2007, 09:46 AM   #19 (permalink)
... a sort of licensed troubleshooter.
 
Willravel's Avatar
 
I wish they would have put Democracy Now! up on that list.
Willravel is offline  
Old 05-06-2007, 10:12 AM   #20 (permalink)
 
roachboy's Avatar
 
Super Moderator
Location: essex ma
bill o'reilly...good christ...what a fuckwit.

the only element here that interests me at all is the fact that the study cited in the op quantifies the obvious in its analysis of o'reilly-rhetoric and the importance of the victimization trope in it...and this because thinking about this trope enables you to get a look at the quivering core of angst that powers the rides in conservativeland... fear of "invasion", fear of "pollution", fear of the corruption of the body retro-politic...all displacements of anxiety felt particularly by the petit bourgeois in a period of rapid socio-economic change that they do not and cannot either control or fully comprehend. maybe because this demographic actually believed the mythology they were sold as kids concerning the glories of the united states, city on a hill, the chosen land populated by the chosen people blah blah blah. things are changing and that is impossible. what do we do? where do we run away to?
here is where the likes of o'reilly come in: they perform a very simple operation....class and status anxiety get mapped onto an easy to manage subjective space in which your body is the body of the nation and that which "threatens" is staged across imagery that mixes the discourses of cancer with those of military action. o'reilly, that shabby, ill-mannered little tool, is simply a talking head whose function is to consistently inform the body retro-politic of what it is afraid of. he is not talking about the world, really: he is adjusting the patterns for channelling anxiety that gives what is left of conservativeland its momentum. .

and it appears that the body retro-politic found and maybe even still finds something therapeutic in this ritual, in the way that people once enjoyed going to drive-ins. following that analogy, i suppose that sooner or later folk will recognize that going to the drive-in means that they have to sit in their little cars even more than they already do...sooner or later folk will figure out that being trapped in their cars is not really fun and that behind the illusion of entertainment what they have really been getting is shitty sound, a bad image and mosquitos and that there really is no point in it.
__________________
a gramophone its corrugated trumpet silver handle
spinning dog. such faithfulness it hear

it make you sick.

-kamau brathwaite

Last edited by roachboy; 05-06-2007 at 10:15 AM..
roachboy is offline  
Old 05-07-2007, 10:03 PM   #21 (permalink)
Lennonite Priest
 
pan6467's Avatar
 
Location: Mansfield, Ohio USA
Extremism on either side, distorting facts and trying to destroy either side hurts this nation and takes our collective focus off fixing the problems and instead just arguing over who is right and who is wrong.

FUCK who is right and who is wrong let's start figuring out answers, make compromises and fucking fix the problems.
__________________
I just love people who use the excuse "I use/do this because I LOVE the feeling/joy/happiness it brings me" and expect you to be ok with that as you watch them destroy their life blindly following. My response is, "I like to put forks in an eletrical socket, just LOVE that feeling, can't ever get enough of it, so will you let me put this copper fork in that electric socket?"
pan6467 is offline  
 

Tags
bill, doctor, oreilly, spin, surprise


Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are On



All times are GMT -8. The time now is 03:54 AM.

Tilted Forum Project

Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Search Engine Optimization by vBSEO 3.6.0 PL2
© 2002-2012 Tilted Forum Project

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360