On the January 18 edition of his nationally syndicated radio show, while discussing Missouri kidnapping victim Shawn Hornbeck, Fox News host Bill O'Reilly called Media Matters for America “a far-left swamp pit. A disgusting website that just attacks people with whom they disagree and takes things out of context all day long.” O'Reilly elaborated that “they'll take an hour discussion we do here on The Radio Factor, and then they'll transcribe two minutes of it and leave out all the other stuff. ... [I]t's a cheap game. They've been doing this for years. And everybody with any intelligence knows it.” As with his previous attacks on Media Matters, O'Reilly did not offer a single example of Media Matters' taking his remarks out of context. Media Matters provides transcripts, with full context, and, when available, audio or video clips of O'Reilly's remarks in items about him.
O'Reilly attacked the co-hosts of ABC's The View for allegedly “go[ing] on the Internet ... to a place called Media Matters,” and using information gleaned from Media Matters regarding controversial remarks he made about Hornbeck to criticize O'Reilly. On the January 18 broadcast of The View, co-host Joy Behar asserted that O'Reilly “should apologize, in my opinion, to the parents and to the child” for “almost ... blaming the kid” for being held captive for four years. Commenting on Behar's statement, co-host Rosie O'Donnell asserted that O'Reilly had that reaction because “the kid has a pierced lip.” On his January 18 radio show, O'Reilly responded by calling O'Donnell "[b]ias[ed]"; stated, “I couldn't care less if the kid has a pierced lip”; and claimed that Behar and O'Donnell are “making it a political situation.” Also, on the January 18 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, after complaining that "[t]he far-left smear websites have vilified me," O'Reilly claimed that O'Donnell's remarks were “completely absurd,” and asked, “But what else is new?”
As Media Matters has previously noted (here and here), O'Reilly said of Hornbeck -- who was abducted at the age of 11, held for four years, and recently found in Missouri -- that “there was an element here that this kid liked about this circumstances”; that O'Reilly “do[esn't] buy” “the Stockholm syndrome thing"; that he “believe[d]” that Hornbeck did not enjoy school; and stated: “The situation here for this kid looks to me to be a lot more fun than what he had under his old parents. He didn't have to go to school. He could run around and do whatever he wanted.”
Further, on the January 15 O'Reilly Factor, O'Reilly did indeed note Hornbeck's “piercings” in discussing his views on the Hornbeck kidnapping. While discussing the case with fellow Fox News host Greta Van Susteren, O'Reilly stated: "[T]his is why I don't believe in the Stockholm syndrome -- this guy, Shawn Hornbeck, gone four years, 11 to 15, authorities actually say he taunted his own parents on their website. He, you know, has got the piercings. He's -- I mean, this is a troubled kid."
O'Reilly has previously attacked Media Matters as being "smear merchants," "assassins," and "the most vile, despicable human beings in the country," among other things, despite claiming not to “do personal attacks here.”
From the January 18 edition of Westwood One's The Radio Factor with Bill O'Reilly:
O'REILLY: OK. So, there you go. And I think Miss [Oprah] Winfrey handled it very well. You know, you just don't want to push the kid, who's obviously traumatized. And I think she handled it as well as anybody could handle it. Now, I can't say the same for the View ladies.
You've gotta understand how this goes down. The View ladies don't watch The O'Reilly Factor or listen to The Radio Factor. They don't do it. What they do is go on the Internet, and they go to -- particularly Joy Behar and Rosie O'Donnell -- to a place called Media Matters, which is a far-left swamp pit. A disgusting website that just attacks people with whom they disagree and takes things out of context all day long.
For example, they'll take an hour discussion we do here on The Radio Factor, and then they'll transcribe two minutes of it and leave out all the other stuff. So the total context of the remarks, never know 'em. And it's a cheap game. They've been doing this for years. And everybody with any intelligence knows it. But still, you have people going on there and using this stuff, and it's just one of the bad parts about living in America and being in the media.
[...]
O'REILLY: When I was growing up, I can't imagine that any of my friends or myself or anybody -- because, you know, it never happened and nobody's ever -- but we were pretty tough kids at age 11. Now, this kid, I don't how he was brought up. I don't know anything about him. All right? And the line about Rosie O'Donnell, “You know why? Because he has a pierced lip.”
You know, all of that just shows Miss O'Donnell's -- what word --
LIS WIEHL (co-host): Be nice.
O'REILLY: Bias? Is that all right?
WIEHL: That's OK. Yeah.
O'REILLY: You know, yeah. I couldn't care less if the kid has a pierced lip. But this is what they throw out there, all right, making it a political situation.
From the January 18 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor:
O'REILLY: Oprah told her audience there were ground rules for the interview and she could not ask Shawn on camera why he didn't try to escape from Devlin. Off camera, apparently he told her he was too scared to leave the predator.
This case has captivated the entire country and is now becoming political. The far-left smear websites have vilified me for raising questions about the situation, and, predictably, the View ladies took the bait.
[begin video clip]
BEHAR: Bill O'Reilly has said that he does not believe in the Stockholm syndrome. You know, this kid who was kidnapped in Missouri -- isn't it Missouri? Yeah. He says that --
ELISABETH HASSELBECK (co-host): That it rarely happens.
BEHAR: -- that it rarely happens. He doesn't believe -- he thinks that the kid basically was free to roam around and could have gone home and, “Why didn't he?” Almost like blaming the kid. I think it's really abominable.
O'DONNELL: Yeah. Do you know why he thought that?
HASSELBECK: Why?
O'DONNELL: Because the kid has a pierced lip.
[end video clip]
O'REILLY: Well, it's completely absurd. But what else is new? Cutting through all the nonsense, the bottom line on this story is that Shawn Hornbeck fell victim to evil, pure evil. And every American parent should use this case to instruct their own children on how to confront evil, because sooner or later, they will have to. Simplistic stuff like Stockholm syndrome and the like get us nowhere.
[...]
O'REILLY: Wait a minute. Can you point to one sentence that I said that placed blame on him? I consistently said he was a victim.
JANE HALL (assistant professor in the School of Communication at American University): I think you said, “Why didn't he escape when he could?” And I think you also said --
O'REILLY: That's not blaming him, Jane.
HALL: -- he might have enjoyed.
O'REILLY: It's doing the job. My job is to be a journalist.
HALL: I think you also said he might -- wait, didn't you also say he might have enjoyed the life and liked not going to school? If -- I mean, that's on a website. Maybe it is not the whole story.
O'REILLY: Of course it's not the [unclear]. And it's ridiculous. I raised the question that there was an element of captivity that the boy just talked about, Bernie [Goldberg, author], where he didn't have to go to school. He didn't have to do anything but sleep and play video games. And, again, that was my reporting. And that's true. I haven't said one thing that isn't true.
From the January 18 edition of ABC's The View:
BEHAR: Bill O'Reilly has said that he does not believe in the Stockholm syndrome. You know this kid who was kidnapped in Missouri -- isn't it Missouri? Yeah. He says that --
HASSELBECK: That it rarely happens.
BEHAR: -- that it rarely happens. He doesn't believe -- he thinks that the kid basically was free to roam around and could have gone home and, “Why didn't he?” Almost like blaming the kid. I think it's really abominable.
O'DONNELL: Yeah. Do you know why he thought that?
HASSELBECK: Why?
O'DONNELL: Because the kid has a pierced lip.
BEHAR: Is that -- what that's got to do with anything? First of all, the kid was kidnapped at gunpoint. Now we know that the guy had a gun. OK.
O'DONNELL: And he also had kiddie porn on his computer.
BEHAR: The guy is a perv and a pedophile.
HASSELBECK: And even if this guy was -- because I believe O'Reilly compared this to the Smart case. And he said, you know, where she was, Elizabeth Smart was with -- you know, kind of surrounded by this guy at all times and kind of capped off and not able to go anywhere. He's saying this young man had some free area to roam.
And even if you have physical area to roam, if you know that the threat is there, that someone may harm your family. We don't know what this man said to him. He may harm his family or, “I'm gonna find you.” And, “I found you once, I can find you again.” That threat alone is paralyzing enough for someone who's held in captivity.
BEHAR: But he's basically indicting this kid and saying that the kid was -- he didn't have to go to school and he was a having a good time, and that's why he stayed, I don't think so. I think he's probably -- I'm just alleging this -- probably been raped by the guy and abused by the guy. And Bill O'Reilly is off-base, and he should apologize, in my opinion, to the parents and to the child. I really do believe that.
From the January 15 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor:
VAN SUSTEREN: Is that, first of all, you know, we don't know exactly -- we don't know all the facts. But don't forget that Elizabeth Smart likewise had an opportunity to leave and did not. She was on the public street. For some reason, when young people are picked up and taken under the influence of adults, they are very receptive to what the adults do. So I would not so quickly dismiss the Stockholm. And remember, he was a kid when he was picked up. He was 11.
O'REILLY: OK, but the difference in the Smart case, and correct me if I'm wrong, is that this guy was always hovering around the little girl. And she wasn't gone for the long period of time as this guy was.
Now. What we have learned, and this is why I don't believe in the Stockholm syndrome -- this guy, Shawn Hornbeck, gone four years, 11 to 15, authorities actually say he taunted his own parents on their website. He, you know, has got the piercings. He's -- I mean, this is a troubled kid, in my opinion.
VAN SUSTEREN: I wouldn't -- the piercings -- I mean, look, a lot of kids do piercings and don't do things like that. As far as the taunting goes on the website, I think what can be established is that someone on this particular login taunted the parents.
Now, was it done from this particular computer? If it was done from this particular computer, then that means either Michael Devlin did it, Shawn did it, or someone with access to the computer.