On July 7, Fox News O'Reilly Factor host Bill O'Reilly responded to the controversy over Fox & Friends' airing of altered photos of two New York Times staffers by criticizing The New York Times. He compared the photo of Times reporter Jacques Steinberg, which Fox & Friends did not indicate was distorted, to what was clearly an illustration of O'Reilly published by the Times in January 2007. He said of the recent controversy over the Fox & Friends photos: “Well, some folks at the Times are outraged, as are the far-left loons at Media Matters. Now, this is rich, because here are the caricatures The New York Times used of me when they slashed my book, Culture Warrior. Nice images ... you notice the horn in there? Isn't that nice?”

As Media Matters for America documented, on July 2, Fox & Friends aired an altered photo of Steinberg, as well as of Times editor, Steven Reddicliffe, during a segment claiming that Steinberg's June 28 article on the “ominous trend” in Fox News' ratings was a “hit piece.”

Here's what Fox & Friends aired:

Here's what O'Reilly compared Steinberg's doctored photo to:

Discussing the O'Reilly segment, the Gawker website noted that the Times illustration “is by no stretch a caricature, defined by Merriam-Webster as 'exaggeration by means of often ludicrous distortion of parts or characteristics.' It is a series of straightforward renderings of O'Reilly as he looks on camera. A variety of unnatural colors are used, but not in the service of exaggerating anything about O'Reilly or making him look bad.” Gawker also stated: “There is no 'horn' attached to O'Reilly. The illustration includes little dialog bubbles, like in comic books, with pointy parts of the bubbles aimed at O'Reilly's mouth. Maybe the host missed that when his producer or whoever briefed him on his outrage during a break.”

O'Reilly began the segment by saying: “And now, for perhaps the most hypocritical situation we have ever seen.” He continued: “This man, New York Times reporter Jacques Steinberg, recently wrote an article saying that our competitors were catching up to Fox News in the ratings. If you read the piece, you'd think we were in trouble.” He later stated, “So, Fox & Friends poked a little fun at Steinberg for misreporting the situation, as he does all the time, and they used an unflattering caricature of him.” According to a July 7 Times column by David Carr, Times television reporter Bill Carter considers the photo -- the display of which constituted, in O'Reilly's words, “pok[ing] a little fun at Steinberg” -- “an anti-Semitic caricature.” Carr also wrote that Brian Lewis, Fox News' executive vice president for corporate communications, called the “suggestion that there was something anti-Semitic about the depiction of Mr. Steinberg 'vile and untrue.' ”

From the July 7 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor:

O'REILLY: And now, for perhaps the most hypocritical situation we have ever seen. This man, New York Times reporter Jacques Steinberg, recently wrote an article saying that our competitors were catching up to Fox News in the ratings. If you read the piece, you'd think we were in trouble.

Now, the truth is that, in the second quarter of this year just ended, Fox News was the sixth-highest rated cable network in the country -- CNN 21st; MSNBC 27th.

So, Fox & Friends poked a little fun at Steinberg for misreporting the situation, as he does all the time, and they used an unflattering caricature of him.

Well, some folks at the Times are outraged, as are the far-left loons at Media Matters. Now, this is rich, because here are the caricatures The New York Times used of me when they slashed my book, Culture Warrior. Nice images, aren't -- you notice the horn in there? Isn't that nice?

OK. So, let me get this straight, New York Times people. We can't mock you, but you can mock us? Am I getting this? If the Times editor, Bill Keller, would wise up, perhaps their business might improve.

Finally, Canada will return some American military deserters and, of course, we applaud that.