BILL O'REILLY (HOST): Personal story segment tonight, honesty in journalism, especially when millions of dollars are at stake. I have been fortunate enough to have 20 books on the New York Times best seller list. 11 of them hit number one. So, an argument can be made that I should not even be mentioning this next story, because I have had so much success in the publishing industry.
But others have not been as fortunate as me, and the aforementioned New York Times best seller list is now under suspicion. If a book makes that list, that comes out Sundays, it generates more sales, sometimes big money is involved. So this is no small thing. My latest project Legends & Lies: The Patriots, written by David Fisher, debuted last Saturday on the Wall Street Journal best seller list at number one. It's also number one on the Publisher's Weekly best seller list. That's the magazine that covers the book industry. But on the New York Times best seller list, Legends & Lies: The Patriots, number 6. So how is that possible? According to the Nielsen organization which tracks every book in America, Patriots sold 24,348 copies the week the Times put it at number six. The number one book on the Times list, The Gene, sold just 9,781. A colossal difference. So, we asked the editor of the New York Times, Dean Baquet, to appear this evening and explain his best seller list, but he refused. That's too bad, because Mr. Baquet should know his list is not accurate.
It's impossible for The Gene to have sold more copies than Legends & Lies: The Patriots. Impossible. Therefore, the New York Times best seller list is not an honest barometer of book sales.
