Fox continued to omit key portion of O'Reilly's controversial remarks about San Francisco

On the November 15 edition of Fox & Friends, in purporting to discuss Bill O'Reilly's November 8 remarks about San Francisco's Proposition I and the surrounding controversy, Fox News left out the specific comments at the center of the controversy -- O'Reilly's remarks that "if Al Qaeda comes in here [San Francisco] and blows you up, we're not going to do anything about it. We're going to say, look, every other place in America is off limits to you, except San Francisco. You want to blow up the Coit Tower? Go ahead." Instead, Fox News aired less inflammatory comments about the ballot measure that O'Reilly made on the November 7 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor:

O'REILLY: Why should the rest of the country protect your [San Francisco's] butt, with all due respect? OK, when it comes to the war on terror, if San Francisco is gonna thumb their nose and give the big digit to the military, why should, why should we protect you from Al Qaeda and terrorists, if you're gonna disrespect for [sic] the military, by passing this, even though it's symbolic, this resolution?

Proposition I is a ballot measure the city recently passed that encourages public high schools and universities to prohibit military recruiting on their campuses.

Fox & Friends' omission of O'Reilly's remarks on his November 8 radio broadcast marked the second instance of such an omission on Fox News since O'Reilly made his initial comments. On the November 14 edition of The O'Reilly Factor, O'Reilly defended his remarks as a "satirical riff" and played an audio clip of his November 8 comments but omitted the portion where he said, "[I]f Al Qaeda comes in here [San Francisco] and blows you up, we're not going to do anything about it. ... You want to blow up the Coit Tower? Go ahead." (The Coit Tower was erected in 1933 and dedicated as a tribute to the city's firefighters.)

Further, in introducing the Fox & Friends segment on O'Reilly's remarks, co-host E.D. Hill -- who also co-hosts O'Reilly's radio show -- mischaracterized Proposition I, stating, "[W]hat they did ... is make ... they wanted to ban it, outright -- military recruiters from going into schools in San Francisco, and they're hoping, after the victory, that this will start a movement, so that military recruiters will be banned from all schools." In fact, Proposition I did not "ban" military recruiters from schools; rather, the measure makes it non-binding city policy to "oppose military recruiting in public schools." Voters approved the measure 59 percent-41 percent.

From the November 15 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends:

STEVE DOOCY (co-host): Seven minutes now after the top of the hour. There's some people out in San Francisco, California, who hold public office who say that Bill O'Reilly needs to get fired.

HILL: That's right. Bill was talking on his show last Monday.

DOOCY: Bill doesn't appear to be too affected by this.

HILL: He is not. You know, Bill is [saying], "Take me on." Because the issue is something that I know will resonate with a lot of you. In San Francisco, they were voting on a thing that they called "College Not Combat." And what they did -- and they passed it -- is make, is discourage -- they wanted to ban it, outright -- military recruiters from going into schools in San Francisco, and they're hoping, after the victory, that this will start a movement, so that military recruiters will be banned from all schools. Now think about that. Who's going to end up enlisting if they can't go in there and present this to kids.

STEVE DOOCY (co-host): This is the public schools --

HILL: Yeah, 18 years old, I remember when they came to my school. A lot of the kids in my school couldn't afford to go to college. This was a great way to get an education. And so they, they passed this thing.

BRIAN KILMEADE (co-host): Well, well here's the quote, which is unbelievable, and I was watching the show yesterday.

HILL: I think we have an SOT [sound-on-tape].

KILMEADE: In fact, all right, let's see if it's the same one.

[begin video clip ]

O'REILLY: Why should the rest of the country protect your [San Francisco's] butt, with all due respect? OK, when it comes to the war on terror, if San Francisco is gonna thumb their nose and give the big digit to the military, why should, why should we protect you from Al Qaeda and terrorists, if you're gonna disrespect for [sic] the military, by passing this, even though it's symbolic, this resolution?

[end video clip]

—A.D.