Philly Enquirer

Tuesday, April 10, 2001

TV Talk | Gail Shister

Confrontational style a factor, says O'Reilly, cable's top talker

The pit bull beat the puppy.

For the first time, Fox News Channel's confrontational Bill O'Reilly has unseated CNN veteran Larry "I Never Met a Guest I Didn't Like" King as the top talker on cable news.

In the first quarter of 2001, The O'Reilly Factor averaged 1.1 million viewers, edging Larry King Live by 17,000 viewers. Impressive, considering that Fox is available in 64 million homes, compared with CNN's 81 million.

O'Reilly's not surprised.

"Larry, basically, lets the guest control the tempo of the conversation. I don't. My show is quicker, more to the point. That's going to be the future of interviewing.

"I'm a confrontational interviewer. He's informational. I bring a point of view. He doesn't. People can get on and weave a tale they want to tell. When you're dealing with something controversial, viewers sometimes get frustrated with that."

O'Reilly, 51, insists he's a King fan and acknowledges that King, 67, gets bigger-name guests (for now, he adds). O'Reilly has had King on his show, but the favor hasn't been returned, O'Reilly says, "because he sees me as competition."

The two shows don't go head-to-head - O'Reilly airs at 8 p.m., King at 9 - but the trends are clear. King is down 11 percent compared to the same period last year, while O'Reilly is up a whopping 151 percent.

O'Reilly, a best-selling author (The O'Reilly Factor) and former Inside Edition host, labels as "laughable" the oft-heard charges that his network - and he - have a conservative, Republican slant.

"I get just as much mail yelling at me from the right as from the left."

O'Reilly says he's a registered independent who's for gun control and against the death penalty and who cares about global warming. He says Tim Russert of NBC's Meet the Press and Mike Wallace of CBS's 60 Minutes are the best TV interviewers in the business.

As for Fox News Channel's so-called GOP slant, "it's pure propaganda put out by people who fear the network," O'Reilly says. "They can't back it up."

FNC "is kind of a maverick," he says. "It doesn't fall into the established 'Queensberry Rules' kind of stuff. It gives voice to people who can't get on other networks.

"When was the last time you saw pro-life people unless they shot somebody? We welcome everybody here. We're not exclusionary." (Is somebody humming "God Bless America?")

Diplomacy, O'Reilly admits, is not his strong suit.

"I don't really have that skill. It doesn't hurt me in news, but it might hurt me socially. I don't care to socialize with politicians. I'm very happy with my status as an outsider.

"I think all journalists should be that way. TV journalism has become the establishment. It's hard to cover the establishment when you are the establishment. I come at it from a working-class sensibility."

Working class? O'Reilly chooses to live below his means, he says, "because I'm not a materialist."

He still lives where he grew up, on Long Island, "in a regular neighborhood. It looks like Wally Cleaver lives across the street. It's not Bryn Mawr. It's not Bucks County." He leases a Cadillac, "not a Benz or a Beamer."

Heavyweights from both parties endure the hot seat on The O'Reilly Factor, but the one he's really jonesing for and knows he won't get is Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D., N.Y.).

"That would be a pay-per-view. She'd have to answer very hard, very specific questions from me. But she's never done our show and she never will. She doesn't go on anything she can't control. We're always calling her office."

O'Reilly is so passionate about the freshman senator, in fact, he says he'd throw his hat in the ring if she ever were to run unopposed. (See Chance, Fat.)

And our new president?

"I'm willing to give George Bush the benefit of the doubt. I'd like to see more spontaneity, more leadership you don't think is committee-driven. I think he depends on too many other people to tell him stuff. But he's a decent man. When I ask him a question, he gives me a straight answer."

-- Anonymous, April 10, 2001

Answers

He sounds worth watching, haven't seen his show yet.

-- Anonymous, April 10, 2001

An he gets paid good for doing what he does, 20 odd million a year. I don't think any mouth piece is worth that.

-- Anonymous, April 10, 2001