Olbermann named O'Reilly "Worst Person" for shutting down co-host, who correctly named WH conditions for staff interviews

On the March 23 edition of MSNBC's Countdown, host Keith Olbermann named Fox News host Bill O'Reilly the winner of his nightly "Worst Person in the World" segment because, as Media Matters for America documented, O'Reilly "had his radio engineer turn off the mike of his own co-host, Lis Wiehl, because she said Gonzales-gate mattered and because she reminded him, under the president's offer to Congress, [White House senior adviser] Karl Rove and company would not have to testify under oath." Olbermann then observed: " 'Stop talking,' he yelled at her. 'It's not about you, and you're misleading the audience. Stop talking.' He then had her mike shut off for three minutes, and asked rhetorically about Wiehl, 'What can we do to her? What can we do to her?' "

O'Reilly ordered Wiehl's microphone turned off after she asserted accurately that the Bush administration had offered to allow White House staffers to be interviewed privately by members of Congress investigating the controversial firings of eight U.S. attorneys only if no transcript of the interviews is produced. O'Reilly called her claim a "lie" and maintained that Wiehl "did not do [her] homework."

As Media Matters has noted (here, here, and here), Olbermann frequently includes O'Reilly in his "Worst Person" segment, and O'Reilly recently received the "gold" for blaming the deaths of those killed in a March 7 fire in New York City on the "pro-amnesty, open-border crowd." O'Reilly also has a history of treating his female co-host in an offensive manner, such as suggesting that Wiehl should protest outside CBS News headquarters in a bikini.

From the March 23 edition of MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann:

OLBERMANN: But our winner, Bill-O. Had his radio engineer turn off the mike of his own co-host, Lis Wiehl, because she said Gonzales-gate mattered and because she reminded him, under the president's offer to Congress, Karl Rove and company would not have to testify under oath. "Stop talking," he yelled at her. "It's not about you, and you're misleading the audience. Stop talking." He then had her mike shut off for three minutes, and asked rhetorically about Wiehl, "What can we do to her? What can we do to her?"

Bill-O, she has to sit next to you for two hours a day. You are already doing just about the worse thing you can do to her. Bill Orally, today's "Worst Person in the World."

—A.I.