In response to an item by Media Matters for America exposing FOX News Channel host Bill O'Reilly's false claim on his November 17 radio show that the U.S.-based international human rights organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) is “very shadowy” and that “they don't tell you where their money comes from,” HRW executive director Kenneth Roth sent O'Reilly an email noting that “all donors above $5,000 are listed in our annual report" (p. 40) and requesting that O'Reilly issue an on-air apology.

Roth appeared as a guest on the November 17 edition of FOX News Channel's The O'Reilly Factor, but he was unaware of O'Reilly's disparaging remarks earlier that day on the nationally syndicated The Radio Factor with Bill O'Reilly. In his November 20 email to O'Reilly, Roth noted that, before his appearance, he had personally informed O'Reilly's producer of the donor list in HRW's annual report and offered to send the producer a copy of the report.

MMFA has collected the audio clip of O'Reilly's remarks here.

Following is the email Roth sent to O'Reilly, reprinted with Roth's permission:

Dear Mr. O'Reilly,

I recently learned that on your Nov. 17 radio show -- the same day I most recently appeared on your television show -- you allegedly said that Human Rights Watch is “very shadowy” because “they don't tell you where their money comes from.... [T]hey won't tell you who gives 'em money.” I did not hear the program, but this account, from Media Matters, puzzles me, since your producer called me that very same day and asked me whether Human Rights Watch lists our donors. I said we did -- that all donors above $5,000 are listed in our annual report. I asked him whether he'd like me to send him a copy; he declined, saying he could get one.

When I arrived on your television set a few hours later, you clearly had a copy of the annual report, since you showed me a picture from it and, before we went on air, asked me to identify two of the three people pictured in a particular photo. You also noted that Fox's very own News Corp. was a donor -- a fact you had clearly just learned by perusing the list of our donors. In that light, it's not clear to me how you could have made the claim that you did on your radio program. Could you please clarify that for me. If your radio statement was as inaccurate as described, I would expect, out of fairness, an on-air correction.

Best,
Kenneth Roth
Executive Director
Human Rights Watch