Bill O’Reilly’s credibility problems just expanded from a “war zone” in Argentina to Florida. That’s where O’Reilly has claimed he arrived on the doorstep of a JFK assassination figure just as he committed suicide. But the facts indicate O’Reilly wasn’t even in the same state.
From Media Matters:
Bill O’Reilly has repeatedly claimed he personally “heard” a shotgun blast that killed a figure in the investigation into President John F. Kennedy’s assassination while reporting for a Dallas television station in 1977. O’Reilly’s claim is implausible and contradicted by his former newsroom colleagues who denied the tale in interviews with Media Matters. A police report, contemporaneous reporting, and a congressional investigator who was probing Kennedy’s death further undermine O’Reilly’s story.
George de Mohrenschildt was a Russian emigre who befriended Kennedy assassin Lee Harvey Oswald and testified before the Warren Commission investigating the Kennedy assassination. On March 29, 1977, the same day he was contacted by the House Select Committee on Assassinations, he committed suicide at his daughter’s home in Florida. At the time, O’Reilly was a reporter for Dallas’ WFAA-TV who regularly reported on stories related to the Kennedy assassination.
Media Matters lays out in great detail the facts that contradict O’Reilly’s claims, including recollections from his colleagues that he was in Texas, not Florida, when de Mohrenschildt killed himself. Other documents also indicate O'Reilly was not there.
Once again, O’Reilly’s former colleagues do not paint a very flattering portrait of him. You may recall the blistering attack on his professionalism (or lack thereof) by retired CBS correspondent Eric Engberg. Media Matters writes about the recollections of Tracy Rowlett, a former WFAA reporter and anchor, and Byron Harris, a reporter at WFAA for the past 40 years:
According to Rowlett, “It was my experience with O’Reilly that he was less than an honest reporter, generally. He was the most disliked person in our newsroom. He wasn’t to be trusted, he was all about Bill O’Reilly, he wasn’t about the news.”
Harris painted a similar picture of O’Reilly, saying he was “often not a truthful person” and claiming the Fox News host “was just a jerk, nobody liked him. He was always tooting his own horn.”
Will these latest revelations keep the issue of O’Reilly’s credibility alive? Stay tuned.
photo credit: Bill O'Reilly - Caricature via photopin (license)
“Bill O’Reilly has claimed repeatedly that he witnessed the execution of nuns while reporting in 1981 on the civil war in El Salvador, an apparent fabrication that is at odds with both history and what O’Reilly himself has said about arriving in the country after the event took place, according to new information unearthed by Media Matters.”
http://mediamatters.org/blog/2015/02/25/another-fabrication-oreilly-never-witnessed-the/202667
“According to CNN, “When reached for comment, a Fox News spokesperson referred CNNMoney to Henry Holt and Company, the imprint that published O’Reilly’s book on the Kennedy assassination.”
In seeking to pass off responsibility for O’Reilly’s falsehoods to his publisher, Fox News is trying to hide the fact that he offered the same claim on their airwaves.
Directing reporters to the publisher represents a substantial shift from how Fox News responded to the Mother Jones story, which similarly detailed how O’Reilly had repeatedly made exaggerated claims about his reporting experience in his books and on Fox News."
http://mediamatters.org/blog/2015/02/25/fox-goes-quiet-following-oreilly-jfk-revelation/202664
But of course, they are all going to be uncovered by “hacks” out to “smear” Bill.
And Ailes will never suspend Bill.
