O'Reilly smeared Denver Post TV critic as a “far-left ideologue”

Written by Media Matters Staff

Published

Responding to a column in which Denver Post television critic Joanne Ostrow criticized his demeanor during an interview, Fox News host Bill O'Reilly labeled her “dishonest” and a “far-left ideologue.” It marked the second time in the past six months that the host of The O'Reilly Factor attacked a Denver media critic.

On the April 9 edition of Fox News Channel's The O'Reilly Factor, host Bill O'Reilly called longtime Denver Post television critic Joanne Ostrow “flat-out dishonest” and “a far-left ideologue” for her criticism of him in an April 7 column, “O'Reilly meltdown a new low.”

In her column, Ostrow condemned O'Reilly's demeanor in a heated April 5 O'Reilly Factor interview with TV journalist Geraldo Rivera.

When Bill O'Reilly nearly came out of his chair and across the desk at Geraldo Rivera on his Fox News show this week, he marked a new low in what passes for modern political discourse. Even by the shallow standards of cable news -- and “The O'Reilly Factor” in particular -- it was a stunningly foul performance.

[...]

When a girl was killed by a drunk driver in Virginia, a driver who happened to be an undocumented immigrant, O'Reilly seized the moment to turn the issue into a tirade against illegal aliens. O'Reilly spewed racist bile; Rivera objected forcefully. When Geraldo is the voice of reason driving home solid points, you know things are out of hand.

Responding to Ostrow's column during his “Most Ridiculous Item of the Day” segment, O'Reilly called the criticism of him “absolutely disgraceful”:

From the April 9 edition of Fox News Channel's The O'Reilly Factor:

O'REILLY: Time now for the most ridiculous item of the day.

[...]

O'REILLY: Now, the absolute worse was this woman, Joanne Ostrow of The Denver Post. She said, quote, “O'Reilly seized the moment to turn the issue into a tirade against illegal aliens. O'Reilly spewed racist bile,” unquote. That, of course, is a lie, and anybody watching that debate would know that. Our reporting was exclusively about criminal illegal aliens. Now, we expect this kind of stuff from Ostrow, who is dishonest -- flat-out dishonest -- and a far-left ideologue. Shame on her. And by the way, two Denver police officers were shot last year, one killed by a scofflaw illegal alien. But I'm racist for mentioning that right, madam? Ridiculous off the chart. Disgraceful; absolutely disgraceful, Denver Post.

O'Reilly's attack against Ostrow is not his first on a Denver writer. As Colorado Media Matters noted, O'Reilly responded on his November 20, 2006, broadcast to cancellation of a controversial interview with O.J. Simpson that was to have aired on Fox. He claimed, “One creep out in the Rocky Mountain News goes, 'Well, maybe the Fox News Channel shouldn't have said anything,' ” then added, “You know, these people are the worst.”

While O'Reilly did not name the “creep” at the News, he apparently was referring to veteran media critic Dusty Saunders, who stated in a column about the Simpson interview, “Perhaps Fox News Channel personalities should simply not comment on the sleazy [O.J. Simpson] program.”