For the past few weeks I have been listening to podcasts of Bill O’Reilly’s radio show. He was never a former radio broadcaster before the success of his Fox News show, and it really does show.
He often comes across as arrogant and self-praising. For a guy who likes to brand his show as the “no spin zone” he sure as hell does a lot of spinning and twisting of the issues. It seems as if every time a caller calls in to disagree with him, he shuts down their logic and supplements his own without even allowing a rebuttal from the caller.
Even though it seems as if I am just bashing his style, I will give him credit for being honest about where he stands to his viewers. Too often these days the news media tries to keep a lid on personal feelings and honesty to it’s viewers. I feel that at times O’Reilly can be a breath of fresh air in a media dominated by liberal bias.
Also, he comes across better on his television show then on his radio show. This is probably because he can’t cut off his guests and must deal with an opposing viewpoint as oppose to just shutting off their phone line as he often does on his radio show.
The one major gripe that I have with him is that he states that there is no such thing as a political middle ground, and that we must either choose to fully support the Republicans or the Democrats. I feel that there can be a middle ground. You can be against abortion and for gay marriage and O’Reilly thinks that you have to define that by either one party or the other?
But all in all, Bill O’Reilly is an interesting personality who does have a very diverse panel of pundits on his show each and every night. If you are the type of person that enjoys a wide variety of topics, issues, and opinions, then love him or hate him personally, you will not be disappointed by the overall show.
