Shortly after Brian Williams was suspended for fabricating details of his story about being shot down in a helicopter in Iraq, Bill O’Reilly had his own past scrutinized and questioned. Specifically, his stories of reporting on the Falklands War. O’Reilly, along with fellow Fox News pundits Geraldo Rivera and Bernie Goldberg, has lashed out at these accusations, declaring them “proof the American media is corrupt” and calling the Mother Jones editor who broke the story a “despicable guttersnipe.”
This week, while the New York Times worked on their own story, O’Reilly made it very clear that he would not play nice.
“Mr. O’Reilly’s efforts to refute the claims by Mother Jones and some former CBS News colleagues occurred both on the air and off on Monday,” the Times’ Emily Steel and Ravi Somaiya reported. “During a phone conversation, he told a reporter for The New York Times that there would be repercussions if he felt any of the reporter’s coverage was inappropriate. ‘I am coming after you with everything I have,’ Mr. O’Reilly said. ‘You can take it as a threat.’”
Steel confirmed on Twitter that she was the reporter in question. Reached by email late Monday night, she declined to comment further, noting that “the story speaks for itself.” A Fox News spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment from O’Reilly.
As efforts to appear trustworthy go, threatening reporters isn’t super high on the list.
Source: Politico