It’s Bill O’Reilly Versus Geraldo Rivera
An illegal alien who is drunk kills a young girl. So is it an immigration issue — or a drunk driving issue? Or both?
Reasonable people can discuss it, but go to CROOKS AND LIARS HERE and watch an absolutely livid Bill O’Reilly in a screamfest with Geraldo Rivera.
This is a must-view piece of video for several reasons. One is that it underscores how two people who were actually good journalists when they did straight stories and showed some emotional restraint have evolved to where they are today — raking in the Big Bux but caricatures of themselves.
Geraldo Rivera has gone from being a young investigative reporter star to part and parcel of the 21st century’s increasingly popular cable talk/news genre. But in this clip — compared to a screeching O’Reilly — he almost comes off as academic working at a prestigious think tank.
And O’Reilly? He is adored by his fans and loathed by those who disagree with him politically. But what can be said about O’Reilly is that he was an excellent reporter who could do some serious stuff. Then he moved over to the cable/talk radio talk/news genre and has become the Ratings King. Yet, in the process, you see in this video someone who immediately goes on the personal attack and can’t discuss but has to scream. Rage replaces reason…and it’s what gets ratings (and perhaps blog hits). But it REPLACES reasonable discussion nonetheless. If you notice at the end, O’Reilly seems pleased at the hot-emotions fest.
There is a serious issue here. But it gets dwarfed by raging emotions that are nearly as strong as adolescent raging hormones — and emotions are what cause viewers to return again and again (and they do). We bet our readers can discuss this a bit more seriously in comments.
6 Responses to “It’s Bill O’Reilly Versus Geraldo Rivera”
Joe,
Leaving aside any calm assessment of our boys’ journalistic creds (if that’s possible) this can be one of two things.
Either it’s 1) a staged battle for ratings or it’s 2) emblematic of what is happening further out in the country.
I want to believe 1), mainly to appease my cynical side, but anecdotal evidence points me to 2). I have witnessed generally intelligent and polite people suddenly devolve into screaming, seething masses at a seemingly innocuous statement. This often happens, depending on the personalities and relationships attendant, but in the years since September 2001 I have detected a general shortening of tempers and an impulse to plaster those who disagree with us as not merely wrong but stupid, evil, genocidal, suicidal… you name it. And honestly, I see it everywhere.
We are like a huge engine running on loose fittings.
Mr. O’Reilly’s mama didn’t teach him much in the way of manners, did she? My mother would be so embarrassed if I ever acted like that, even in private.
holy crap i have never seen billo so pissed. and other-daniel, i don’t think that was staged. i mean, i’ve seen billo go off on people before… but i never saw his face in such a contorted state of rage before. that stuff is tough to fake.
that being said, given these two’s argument over the bronx fire… i’m sure fox put them together with the expectation that they’d get in to it.
o’reilly’s lost it. not that he ever had it. but his smug look of i’m-totally-the-best-guy-ever has been replaced by impotent frustration.
It’s official. Bill O’Reilly has jumped the shark. The fact that his show remains the highest in terms of viewership ratings does not speak well for this country.
O’Reilly is a metaphor for pretty much everything that’s wrong with today’s media. It’s loud. It’s obnoxious. It’s sensationalistic. It constantly makes every issue into a conservative versus liberal (or traditionalist versus secular progressive) argument. It’s selective and misleading in its reporting. It plays on people’s prejudices and fears. And it goes out of its way to exclude independent points of view that don’t fit within the liberal versus conservative paradigm.
Hot emotions=hot ratings on cable tv. It is the age in which we live. The reasoned debate is quickly becoming a dinosaur. It also seems to be a vicious circle to me, because the more we listen to OR and his ilk, the more polarized we become, and the more we support extremists in our parties. Those extremists win, and enact polarizing policy , leading to more irrational, emotional rants from our pundits, leading to higher cable ratings.
I totally agree with nicrivera on most points, but saying that he’s jumped the shark seems a bit off. That is determined by ratings alone and I’m sure O’Reilly is going to be with us for the foreseeable future.