[lbo-talk] NPR ombud: Gross unfair to O'Reilly

[Jeet Heer]

Boy, this ombudsman is a real idiot. The Gross interview was great -- much
more professional than O'Reilly's own interviews. She really exposed him for
the sour self-pitying bully that he is. Anyways, I wrote the following
e-mail to the ombudsman. I would encourage others to write in as well. the
e-mail is: ombudsman at npr.org

Hi,

This is just a quick note to say that I think you are mistaken to rebuke
Terry Gross for her Bill O'Reilly interview. O'Reilly is a controversial
figure who has said many harsh things; Ms. Gross quite rightly asked him
about these things. But she did so in a polite and calm manner, in the
context of a very professional interview, the vast bulk of which was taken
up discusing O'Reilly's book. Listening to the interview, I came away with
the impression that O'Reilly is a typical bully -- he's happy enough to yell
and scream at others but when he's challenged he'll start whining. So the
interview in that sense was quite accurate. By the way, O'Reilly also lied
constantly during the interview. If you do some digging around the web, you
can find the actual facts behind the Peabody award brouhaha and his
interview with the son of the 9/11 victim. The actual events that happened
do not square at all with O'Reilly's version of events. So your rebuke of
Gross was, among other things, a defense of someone who used the NPR
airwaves to spread lies.

Best,

Jeet Heer