O'Reilly smeared “very shadowy” Human Rights Watch

Written by Gabe Wildau

Published

FOX News Channel and radio host Bill O'Reilly called the group Human Rights Watch (HRW) “very shadowy” and claimed that “they don't tell you where their money comes from” because the group “knows how they're perceived by most Americans.” In fact, HRW's website freely discloses its donors. Later, O'Reilly's guest from the conservative Heritage Foundation complained that HRW has focused narrowly on “Abu Ghraib, Abu Ghraib, Abu Ghraib” (prison in Iraq) and “Gitmo, Gitmo, Gitmo” (Guantánamo Bay, Cuba), where Americans have been accused of abuses, rather than “using their scarce resources to really shine the light on these places around the world where there truly are human rights abuses” like China, Syria, and Sudan. In fact, Human Rights Watch does extensive research and advocacy on these nations and scores of others.

From the November 17 broadcast of the nationally syndicated The Radio Factor with Bill O'Reilly:

O'REILLY: Human Rights Watch is a group that operates worldwide. They're very shadowy -- they don't tell you where their money comes from. But we have investigated. ... [T]hey won't tell you who gives 'em money, which is always a tip-off. If any group like this won't tell you who gives 'em money then you gotta go -- “Oh, okay.”

O'Reilly then referred to what he claimed was a 1995 “investigative report on Human Rights Watch” by “a Dutch reporter,” which revealed that the group's funders are all “left-wing people”:

O'REILLY: In 1995 a Dutch reporter apparently did an investigative report on Human Rights Watch and found that -- whoa, George Soros -- ooohh! What a surprise! Kickin' in a lotta dough in there, along with the Ford Foundation, which is a far-left foundation -- charitable foundation here in the United States. The Rockefeller Foundation -- I don't know much about them. Norman Lear -- off the chart left. Katharine Graham, who was alive back then, Washington Post Company -- all of these are big donors. Mr. and Mrs. Edgar Bronfman -- so Carnegie Corporation, all the left-wing people kickin' in.

Later, O'Reilly claimed that “Human Rights Watch is very secretive about who gives them money ... because people like me are gonna look at their books and gonna point out who gives money.” He concluded: “So that tells me that Human Rights Watch ... knows how they're perceived by most Americans.”

In fact, nearly all the donors named in the Dutch “investigative report” are openly thanked for their financial support in numerous reports available on the HRW website:

Norman Lear is listed in the Human Rights Watch World Report 1993 as a member of an advisory committee, not a donor. Still, the disclosure of his name suggests that HRW is hardly trying to hide its association with Lear, a Hollywood producer known for financing liberal causes.

Katharine Graham, the publisher of The Washington Post who died in 1997, is not listed on the HRW website, nor is Edgar Bronfman, though it is not clear to whom O'Reilly is referring. Edgar M. Bronfman Sr. is former chairman of the Seagram Company and former president of the World Jewish Congress. Edgar Bronfman Jr. took over Seagram and turned it into an entertainment empire; he currently operates Warner Music Group.

Minutes later, Heritage Foundation senior policy analyst Jack Spencer called into the show as a guest and complained that HRW and Amnesty International focus excessively on alleged U.S. abuses while letting countries that perpetrate more serious abuses off the hook:

SPENCER: If you look at what they've looked at in the past couple of years, it's all been Abu Ghraib, Abu Ghraib, Abu Ghraib -- that we shouldn't have invaded Iraq -- and Gitmo, Gitmo, Gitmo -- that's sort of been their thing.

Instead of using their scarce resources to really, shine the light on these places around the world where there truly are human rights abuses, I would argue that ... they not only do not have the United States' interests in mind, they actually detract from the interests of those who could really use the help of organizations like Human Rights Watch. ... But instead of focusing their resources on where they're really needed, they tend to divert those resources on places like the United States.

[...]

In places like Syria, in places like China -- these are the places -- in like Sudan. These are where we need to focus our resources.

Contrary to Spencer's suggestion that HRW focuses primarily on U.S. abuses, none of the lead articles HRW's website were about U.S. abuses when Media Matters for America consulted the site at 5 p.m. ET on November 19; the highlighted article at the top of the page was about Sudan. Links to articles on U.S. human rights issues were relegated to a small panel at the bottom of the page. Inside, HRW's website contains hundreds of articles, letters, and reports on China, Syria, Sudan, and nearly every country in the world.