Attacking CNN and MSNBC as "far-left loons," O'Rei

Summary: As a guest on The Caplis & Silverman Show on October 24, Bill O'Reilly echoed claims he made the previous day on his Fox News show, saying that CNN and MSNBC "didn't even cover, in prime time, the Medal of Honor ceremony for Lieutenant Michael Murphy yet this week." Although during the 8-11 p.m. ET period neither network covered the ceremony for the Navy SEAL killed in Afghanistan, both offered extensive coverage of the story -- including a live MSNBC broadcast of the ceremony -- on several occasions during their October 22 programming.

On the October 24 broadcast of 630 KHOW-AM's The Caplis & Silverman Show, Fox News host Bill O'Reilly echoed comments he made October 23 on his nationally televised program The O'Reilly Factor, stating that CNN and MSNBC "didn't even cover, in prime time, the Medal of Honor ceremony for Lieutenant Michael Murphy yet this week." While they did not cover the story during the 8-11 p.m. ET prime-time period on October 22, MSNBC and CNN provided extensive coverage of the Murphy Medal of Honor ceremony: MSNBC reported on Murphy at least five times, including broadcasting the award ceremony live, and CNN covered the story on at least seven occasions, as Media Matters for America noted.

Appearing as a guest on the KHOW program, O'Reilly asserted that "the left is now controlling CNN, MSNBC. These are networks controlled by far-left loons." He further stated that both networks had yet to cover, "in prime time," the Medal of Honor ceremony for Murphy, a Navy SEAL who was killed during a rescue mission in Afghanistan that is chronicled in the book Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10 (Little, Brown and Co., June 2007).

But O'Reilly, along with co-hosts Dan Caplis and Craig Silverman, did not note that during the 2 p.m. ET segment of CNN Newsroom, anchor Don Lemon introduced a report on Murphy by CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr by asserting, "The ultimate sacrifice, the highest honor, a Navy SEAL killed in Afghanistan, he makes history [as the first to receive the Medal of Honor from the war in Afghanistan]" -- a report that also aired on the 7 p.m. ET segment of The Situation Room. CNN also noted the award on the 6 a.m., 7 a.m., and 8 a.m. ET segments of American Morning, as well as the 10 a.m. and 12 p.m. ET segments of CNN Newsroom.

On the 11 a.m. broadcast of MSNBC Live, anchor Contessa Brewer questioned MSNBC military analyst Jack Jacobs, a retired Army colonel and himself a Medal of Honor recipient, about Murphy's award. The 2 p.m. edition of MSNBC Live aired live coverage of more than 11 minutes of the award ceremony, including President Bush's entire speech, which ran more than seven minutes.

Murphy's award was also reported on the 10 a.m., 1 p.m., and 3 p.m. ET editions of MSNBC Live.

In contrast to Caplis and Silverman, on the October 25 broadcast of The O'Reilly Factor, Fox News contributor Jane Hall challenged O'Reilly's criticism of CNN and MSNBC, saying, "I've got to tell you, CNN covered this [Medal of Honor ceremony] at 7 o'clock. MSNBC covered it live. You all covered it live. CNN covered it multiple times," as Media Matters further noted. Hall added, "I don't think it's fair to say what you're trying to say about cable. It's not true," and later stated, "They must have covered it 10 times during the day, Bill." O'Reilly responded, "OK, Jane, you can stop talking now. The segment's over."

From the October 24 broadcast of 630 KHOW-AM's The Caplis & Silverman Show:

SILVERMAN: The other day on your show, I watched [Fox News anchor] Laurie Dhue ask you the question, "What about the right-wing extremists?" And they're all over the radio; you talked about it. What about high school kids being exposed to that? I mean, it's not just a one-way street. I think the extremists on both sides are dangerous, especially for kids.

O'REILLY: Yeah, but the difference is that the extremists on the right -- and they do exist -- are not organized the way they are on the left, and they don't have mainstream media access. So that yeah, you have some talk radio kooks spittin' this stuff out there, and you know, and the fire -- the California fire thing, we're leading with this tonight on TV -- you've got some right-wingers that say, "Illegal immigrants did it." You know --

SILVERMAN: Right.

O'REILLY: C'mon. But these people, they don't get the exposure that the left gets. I mean, the left is now controlling CNN, MSNBC. These are networks controlled by far-left loons. They didn't even cover, in prime time, the Medal of Honor ceremony for Lieutenant Michael Murphy yet this week.

SILVERMAN: Right, that's a very personal story around here, 'cause his colleague Danny Dietz --

O'REILLY: Absolutely.

SILVERMAN -- is from this area, and he's honored with a statue unveiled on the Fourth of July.