On the November 6 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, host Bill O'Reilly asserted that The New York Times is not “honest” because "[i]ts TV reporter Jacques Steinberg actually wrote an article that says MSNBC is competitive with The Factor at 8 p.m.[ET]." O'Reilly stated: “Mr. Steinberg knows that is not true. He knows that's a lie, but he wrote it anyway.” O'Reilly added: “Here is the truth. In October, MSNBC had no overall ratings growth at 8 p.m. None. In the past five weeks, the Factor has beaten them by 225 percent in total audience and 100 percent in the key demo [the 25- to 54-year-old marketing demographic].” Concluding, O'Reilly stated: “Steinberg knows the score, but chose to deceive the public. Disgraceful.” In fact, Steinberg did not claim that “MSNBC is competitive with The Factor at 8 p.m.” Rather, Steinberg wrote in his November 6 Times article that MSNBC's Countdown has "[o]n some nights recently ... come tantalizingly close to surpassing" the Factor “among viewers ages 25 to 54,” and noted that “Most of the time, though, Mr. O'Reilly outdraws Mr. Olbermann by about 1.5 million viewers over all at the same hour, according to Nielsen Media Research.”

According to Nielsen Media Research live and same-day data, Countdown came within 60,000 viewers of the Factor in the 25- to 54-year-old marketing demographic on at least three occasions since September 1. Indeed, Countdown came within 56,000 viewers (26 percent more viewers) in the 25-54 age demographic on November 2; within 48,000 viewers in the adult demographic (a difference of 17 percent) on October 26; and within 19,000 viewers (and beat O'Reilly in the first half-hour) on September 7. Moreover, on October 19, Countdown beat the Factor in the adult demographic, topping O'Reilly's program by 25,000 viewers (as TV Newser noted, “O'Reilly still had the #1 program in total viewers with 1.4M, more than doubling Olbermann's audience”).

O'Reilly's comments came during a discussion of reports that MSNBC is currently considering offering comedian Rosie O'Donnell a prime-time show on the network. During the segment, an on-screen graphic featured a photograph of O'Donnell accompanied by the NBC logo and text reading “Selling Its Soul?” O'Reilly stated that “in the interest of truth” he would “dispel some rumors.” He went on to say: “It is not true that Sean Penn will be co-anchoring the NBC Nightly News. That is false. It is also not true that Hugo Chavez will become their chief foreign correspondent. Apparently, he is unavailable for that position. And it's certainly not true that [Rep.] Barney Frank [D-MA] will be doing the weather on the Today show. Not going to happen even if Rosie signs on.” Talks between MSNBC and O'Donnell have since reportedly failed.

O'Reilly also stated: “Now, all this madness is the responsibility of this guy, Jeffrey Immelt, the CEO of General Electric, which owns NBC. Mr. Immelt also had no comment on Rosie O'Donnell. But GE stockholders should have a comment.” Similarly, during the same day's broadcast of Fox News' The Big Story, co-host Heather Nauert claimed that NBC is “a big, big public company. Shareholders are going to be pretty upset if they're getting -- once the company starts getting a lot of flak.”

As Media Matters for America has documented, O'Reilly has repeatedly attacked both NBC and MSNBC (here, here, and here), as well as The New York Times (here, here, and here).

From the November 6 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor:

O'REILLY: So how bad are things at MSNBC? Listen to one of their show presenters.

TUCKER CARLSON [Tucker host, video clip]: That does it for us. Thank you for watching as always. And we mean that sincerely to all eight of you. We'll be back here Monday. Up next, Hardball with Chris Matthews. Have a great weekend.

O'REILLY: Well, at least Carlson is honest, which is more than you can say for The New York Times. Its TV reporter Jacques Steinberg actually wrote an article that says MSNBC is competitive with The Factor at 8 p.m.

Now, Mr. Steinberg knows that is not true. He knows that's a lie, but he wrote it anyway. Here is the truth: In October, MSNBC had no overall ratings growth at 8 p.m. None. In the past five weeks, The Factor has beaten them by 225 percent in total audience and 100 percent in the key demo. Margins of victory rarely come bigger than that. Again, Steinberg knows the score, but chose to deceive the public. Disgraceful.

This is the same thing The New York Times did with the far-left radio network Air America. The paper ran more than 20 favorable pieces on those loons, many of them saying how well they were doing. Then presto, Air America declares bankruptcy. Who knew?

The Factor contacted Tom Brokaw today for a comment on Rosie. Mr. Brokaw had nothing to say. Tim Russert, nothing to say. Brian Williams, nothing to say.

But in the interest of truth, I am now going to dispel some rumors. It is not true that Sean Penn will be co-anchoring the NBC Nightly News. That is false. It is also not true that Hugo Chavez will become their chief foreign correspondent. Apparently, he is unavailable for that position. And it's certainly not true that Barney Frank will be doing the weather on the Today show. Not going to happen even if Rosie signs on.

Now, all this madness is the responsibility of this guy, Jeffrey Immelt, the CEO of General Electric, which owns NBC. Mr. Immelt also had no comment on Rosie O'Donnell. But GE stockholders should have a comment.

On Immelt's watch, the NBC network is in dire trouble. Coming up, “Talking Points” is spot on when we told you that NBC News had embraced the radical left agenda in pursuit of ratings. There is no doubt any longer. And that's the “Memo.”

From the November 6 edition of Fox News' Big Story with John Gibson and Heather Nauert:

NAUERT: OK. She's known for making an awful lot of nutty comments, among them, you know, she said don't fear the terrorists. They are mothers and fathers, too. Does NBC really want this kind of liability?

BEN FERGUSON (radio host): I think they want it because they'll do anything for ratings. And they'll let people say crazy, crazy things like this, and totally ruin the, I think, any reputation they had of having some sort of credibility by putting Rosie on TV.

NAUERT: But Jonah, it's also NBC, a big, big public company. Shareholders are going to be pretty upset if they're getting -- once the company starts getting a lot of flak.

JONAH GOLDBERG (National Review Online editor-at-large): You know, I agree -- look, to me, this is ultimately a lose-lose thing for GE and for NBC. Remember when ESPN invited Rush Limbaugh to be on, and then they were shocked that Rush Limbaugh was Rush Limbaugh? They're inviting Rosie O'Donnell to come on to be a crazy woman, to be one of these shrieking homeless people who won't leave the library. And she's going to come on -- either she's going to be a crazy person, which is not good for their public image, or she's not and she's going to get rating, and she's going to tank in the ratings. I don't see how -- she can't thread the needle and be some new person. They want her to come on to be the crazy Rosie O'Donnell that people watched for the same people reason people watched without the car wrecks.