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"Fake News" and Punditry Cross Over: Bill O'Reilly and Stephen Colbert Trade Appearances
by James Layman
"Look, with a bunch of interviews, you don't know how they're going to go", said O'Reilly in a New York Times interview, "but that's part of the fun". “It’s an honor to speak face-to-face with a broadcasting legend” quipped Colbert in The National Post.
Roughly 4.5 million tuned in between both programs, awaiting fierce clashing sabers and booming fireworks. Instead, the two jested. While Colbert adorned the set with a “Mission Accomplished” banner and lamented that O’Reilly has never gotten credit for how “loud” he is, O’Reilly inquired as to whether Colbert’s popularity came from being “French”.
So, by midnight, no impassioned rage took the set. But while the sparks never flew, something altogether unique happened between the controversial Fox News host and the comedian who chronically mimicked him. Suddenly, the man critics perceived to be an imposing firebrand had a sense of humor, while the host of a program sometimes dismissed as fake news permeated the national talk show scene with wit, gentle elegance, and a winking eye.
The rest of the media landscape never saw it that way.
Vanity Fair columnist and O’Reilly critic James Wolcott blasted the host in a 2004 media study book titled Attack Poodles. “It takes a bully to run a bully pulpit, and the biggest bully at Fox News is Bill O’Reilly”, wrote Wolcott. “O’Reilly is willing to scrap with anyone, which can make for good TV-
“good TV” in this context meaning momentary flare ups of genuine heat amid the staged pillow fights” (Walcott, 171-172) Author and O’Reilly Factor correspondent Bernard Goldberg was quick to fire back in his 2005 bestseller 100 People Who are Screwing up America. He recalled an account in which Wolcott wrote a post on his own website prior to the 2004 election, expressing his possible sentiments towards a Bush victory. According to Goldberg, Wolcott had written “Good, go ahead America, choke on your own vomit, you deserve to die”. Goldberg went on to describe the polarizing effect of the statement.
“America will never come back together- liberals/conservatives, Democrats/Republicans, Blue States/Red States as long as journalists like James Wolcott hold important positions at big mainstream media outlets”. (Goldberg, 128)
Almost two years later, the dust of Walcott and Goldberg’s rhetoric still settled as O’Reilly and Colbert sat across from one another, with a generational canyon between them. “Entertainers like Jon Stewart, David Letterman and Stephen Colbert have become purveyors of information for many young Americans”, said O’Reilly in a January 15th Advertising Age article. The O’Reilly Factor saw a 67% increase in the 25-47 year old demographic during Colbert’s appearance. Meanwhile, O’Reilly helped The Colbert Report net its highest ratings to that point.
With a rift that seemingly vast, it was no surprise to see the audience expected a harsh grind. Instead politics were whittled down to a mutual humorous understanding. Jesters and firebrands touched hands, if only for a fleeting moment, across a gap that may not be as wide as once thought.
Books Cited Walcott, James. Attack Poodles, Miramax Books, c. 2004
Goldberg, Bernard, 100 People Who Are Screwing Up America (and Al Franken is #37), Medium Cool Communications, c. 2005
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