O'Reilly admitted he “mislabeled the Chicago Tribune as a liberal paper” in Culture Warrior, as Media Matters noted

Written by Kurt Donaldson

Published


On the October 11 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, host Bill O'Reilly conceded that he “mislabeled the Chicago Tribune as a liberal paper” in his book, Culture Warrior (Broadway Books, September 2006), as Media Matters for America pointed out in an extensive September 22 review of the book. O'Reilly credited Chicago Sun-Times film critic Richard Roeper with the “legitimate concern” that O'Reilly had misidentified the Tribune, adding that the Tribune “is not” liberal, "[s]o it would be ridiculous for me to say the Trib is S-P [secular-progressive]. Roeper is right."

O'Reilly was apparently referring to Roeper's October 11 Chicago Sun-Times column, in which Roeper wrote that O'Reilly's book “might be the first time in history the words 'Chicago Tribune' and 'liberal' have appeared in a sentence that didn't also include the word 'not' somewhere between 'Tribune' and 'liberal.' ” O'Reilly neglected to mention that Media Matters also took issue with O'Reilly's characterization of the Tribune, noting that the Tribune endorsed George W. Bush for president in both 2000 and 2004.

As Media Matters recently noted, O'Reilly has to date identified no factual inaccuracies in the Media Matters review or in a review by Media Matters research fellow Elbert Ventura published in the Cleveland Plain Dealer. He nonetheless described the Plain Dealer review as an “attack.”

From Roeper's October 11 column:

O'Reilly's book Culture Warrior, which is No. 1 on the New York Times best-seller list, includes this passage:

“The Tribune Company out of Chicago runs a chain of newspapers, primarily liberal, throughout the United States; papers like the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, the Baltimore Sun, and Newsday . . .”

That might be the first time in history the words “Chicago Tribune” and “liberal” have appeared in a sentence that didn't also include the word “not” somewhere between “Tribune” and “liberal.”

From the October 11 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor:

O'REILLY: Also, our pal Richard Roeper -- a great guest -- has a legitimate criticism about Culture Warrior. He says I mislabeled the Chicago Tribune as a liberal paper. It is not. In fact, the Trib had the best editorial on North Korea I saw this week. So it would be ridiculous for me to say the Trib is S-P. Roeper is right. Sudden pain.