During the “Talking Points Memo” segment on the June 12 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, host Bill O'Reilly responded to a study by the Project for Excellence in Journalism, which found that Fox News spent less time covering the Iraq war than CNN and MSNBC in the first three months of 2007. O'Reilly asserted: “In my opinion, CNN and especially MSNBC delight in showing Iraqi violence because they want Americans to think badly of President Bush. And that strategy has succeeded.” O'Reilly also stated that he “can't speak for Fox News” but that his program does not “highlight every terrorist attack because we learn nothing from that. And that's exactly what the terrorists want us to do. I mean, come on, does another bombing in Tikrit mean anything other than 'War is hell'? No, it does not.”

Discussing the study during the June 12 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio program, O'Reilly claimed: “The terrorists are going to set off a bomb every day, because they know CNN and MSNBC are gonna put it on the air. That's a strategy for the other side, the terrorist side. So I'm taking an argument that CNN and MSNBC are actually helping the terrorists by reporting useless explosions.” O'Reilly later stated: “I'm not gonna cover every bomb that goes off in Tikrit, because it's meaningless.”

Additionally, O'Reilly asserted that “CNN and MSNBC put [coverage of the Iraq war] on because they want to give the impression that the war is a loser and Bush is an idiot,” adding: “Now, that may be true. The war is a loser, and Bush may be an idiot. OK, I'm not -- that's for you to decide. But that's why they're doing it.” O'Reilly claimed that the reason he doesn't “do a lot of Iraq reporting” is “because we don't know what's happening. We can't find out.”

O'Reilly has fueled an ongoing feud between Fox News and NBC/MSNBC, as Media Matters for America has noted (here, here, here, and here). Media Matters has also documented O'Reilly's previous expressions of indifference to the situation in Iraq. During the September 25, 2006, broadcast of his radio program, O'Reilly declared: “I don't care what Iraq was, I don't care what it will be,” and added that he "[c]ouldn't care less" about the country.

The weblog Think Progress also documented O'Reilly's comments during his June 12 radio show.

From the June 12 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor:

O'REILLY: Hi, I'm Bill O'Reilly. Thanks for watching us tonight.

Fox News criticized for its Iraq war coverage. That is the subject of this evening's “Talking Points Memo.” A group called the Project for Excellence in Journalism says that during the first three months of this year, Fox News had less coverage of Iraq than CNN and MSNBC.

That led CNN chief Jonathan Klein to say, quote, “Fox News were obviously cheerleaders for the war. When the war went badly, they had to dial back coverage because it didn't fit their preconceived story lines.”

Wow, that sounds bad, doesn't it? Now, I can't speak for Fox News, only for “The Factor,” and here's the deal. In the beginning, I supported the war based upon best available intelligence. I was on the same page as [Sen.] Hillary Clinton [D-NY] and [former Sen.] John Edwards [D-NC] and just about everybody else.

When it became clear that many Iraqis would rather kill each other than fight for their freedom, I told you that, all the while rooting for the U.S. military to win the conflict, despite the Iraqi madness.

That's right, as a commentator, I am rooting for the Americans and British to win because a victory is better for the USA and the world.

Now, we've done hundreds of Iraq reports on this program, as you know. But we don't do the carnage du jour. We don't highlight every terrorist attack because we learn nothing from that. And that's exactly what the terrorists want us to do. I mean, come on, does another bombing in Tikrit mean anything other than “War is hell”? No, it does not.

In my opinion, CNN and especially MSNBC delight in showing Iraqi violence because they want Americans to think badly of President Bush. And that strategy has succeeded.

So their Iraqi coverage is more political than informational, again, in my opinion. Could be wrong about CNN. I'm not wrong about the committed left-wing crew over at NBC.

Finally, just who are these Project for Excellence in Journalism people? Well, their spokesman is a guy named Mark Jurkowitz, a former TV writer for the far-left Boston Globe and the off-the-chart-left Boston Phoenix.

Now, I've known Mr. Jurkowitz for many years. He hates Fox News and is a committed leftist. So much for journalistic excellence.

Now, when the Associated Press picked up the study, it didn't identify Jurkowitz as a Fox hater, and it should have.

The bottom line is this. We've reported time and again that the war in Iraq is indeed a mess. There's little news value in broadcasting daily bombings. By the way, Fox News continues to crush CNN and MSNBC in the ratings, as the folks know news when they see it. And that's the “Memo.”

From the June 12 edition of Westwood One's The Radio Factor with Bill O'Reilly:

O'REILLY: All right. Now, they came up with a study of how Iraq is covered by the three cables, and Fox News covers it less than CNN and MSNBC. All right, the Iraq war occupied 20 percent of CNN's daytime newshole, 18 percent of MSNBC, 6 percent of Fox. OK. So, pretty big, pretty big. Now, OK, I'm not gonna dispute that. I can't talk for Fox News and what they do during the day. [Fox News Live anchor] E.D. Hill might be able to, but I can't. But on my program, I don't do a lot of Iraq reporting because we don't know what's happening. We can't find out.

Now, the reason that CNN and MSNBC do so much Iraq reporting is because they want to embarrass the Bush administration. Both do, and all their reporting consists of is, “Here's another explosion. Bang! Here's more people dead. Bang!” All right, we know that. We don't have to report -- it's like Vietnam. Did you report every firefight? No. We know that. The reason that CNN and MSNBC put it on is because they want to give the impression that the war is a loser and Bush is an idiot.

Now, that may be true. The war is a loser, and Bush may be an idiot. OK, I'm not -- that's for you to decide. But that's why they're doing it. They're not doing it to inform anybody about anything. What do you care if another bomb goes off in Tikrit? And the other thing is that the terrorists know this. The terrorists are going to set off a bomb every day because they know CNN and MSNBC are gonna put it on the air. That's a strategy for the other side, the terrorist side. So I'm taking an argument that CNN and MSNBC are actually helping the terrorists by reporting useless explosions.

Do you care if another bomb went off in Tikrit? Does it mean anything? No. It doesn't mean anything. You can't put it in any perspective. We don't know if the surge is working, if security's better. We can't find out. Why? Because our correspondents can't give you that kind of breadth. No correspondents could. Now, we don't believe -- we being “The Factor” -- that the war in Iraq is going well. And I've said that over and over. Am I gonna bring you every explosion? No.

Kicker on this -- Fox News creams CNN and MSNBC in the ratings, all day, every day. At 8 o'clock, “The Factor” beats every single -- not only MSNBC and CNN, but CNBC and Headline News combined. Because we bring you stuff that is new, that is relevant to your life, and I'm not gonna cover every bomb that goes off in Tikrit, because it's meaningless.

Now, the Associated Press writes this article, kicks it out there, like Fox is in the tank and doesn't want to give you bad news. That's a lie. And it comes off a -- you know, guys that hate Fox. Project for Excellence in Journalism -- come on! This guy, Jurkowitz, I mean -- all right, I'm not gonna get into the personal realm, but it's just ridiculous.