O'Reilly on Sexual Harassment: In His Own Words

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http://www.fair.org/press-releases/oreilly-harassment.html


MEDIA ADVISORY:
O'Reilly on Sexual Harassment: In His Own Words

October 25, 2004

Andrea Mackris, an associate producer for Fox News Channel's The O'Reilly
Factor, filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against host Bill O'Reilly on
October 13. O'Reilly has countersued Mackris and her attorney for
extortion, claiming that they demanded $60 million to settle the case out
of court-- a claim Mackris's attorney rejects. As some news accounts have
pointed out, O'Reilly's lawyers are not denying that the sexually explicit
phone calls and conversations O'Reilly is alleged to have initiated
actually happened; instead, they are arguing that such behavior does not
constitute harassment (New York Times, 10/14/04).

According to some news reports, an out-of-court settlement is still a
possibility; if that does not happen, O'Reilly is of course entitled to
his day in court. But over the years, O'Reilly has expressed some very
strong opinions about sexual harassment and the moral responsibilities of
public officials. These comments should be taken into consideration as
viewers and reporters consider the case, no matter what the outcome.


--On public officials, their private lives and moral judgment (7/16/01):

"There is a strong movement in America to remove any kind of value-based
argument. We see this all the time.... Public officials have the right to
lie about sex because it is no one's business what they do in private,
even if sexual harassment suits are lodged against them, i.e., President
Clinton, or even if a young girl disappears shortly after talking with a
congressman she was intimate with. Hello, Gary Condit. Many Americans
simply cannot or will not make judgments about behavior. And this is a
tremendous change in our society. The danger here is that the absence of
value-based judgments breaks down justice and discipline."


--On Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky (8/7/01):

"I was screaming this, nobody else really drove the nail. But under the
federal guidelines, as you know, if you have more power than a subordinate
and you both work in the federal system, it's sexual harassment for you to
have even a consensual affair with that person."


--When Ohio TV anchor Catherine Bosley resigned after photos of her
participating in a wet t-shirt contest were posted on the internet,
O'Reilly thought she should be let go (1/23/04):

"Let's be realistic. Politicians, news people, clergy all have images, and
all depend on the trust of the public to succeed. So we have a young woman
here who-- anchoring the news, and her pictures are all over the
Internet..... So it intrudes on her ability to communicate the news, does
it not?"

"The station has an obligation to put on people who are going to bolster
their news image. This woman, in a community like that particularly, but
in -- I think in any city in the USA, becomes a joke, and, therefore, the
station becomes a joke, and you can't be a joke if you want to compete in
the news area."

"Are you aware that in every newscaster's contract, there's a moral clause
that says, if you embarrass the station publicly in any way, they can let
you go.... Once you go public and do something like that, although it's
not illegal, it embarrasses your employer because your employer operates
on credibility."


-- Discussing an Elle magazine survey about sex in the workplace
(5/13/02):

"I have to explain to the audience that there is no sex allowed at Fox on
the job. We can't have sex here at Fox. But MSNBC apparently have lots of
sex over there, which is why we beat them in the ratings. Because as
we're working to give you programs, they're all having sex."

When one guest-- a human resources expert-- expressed skepticism about how
widespread workplace sex could be, O'Reilly responded:

"You know, I do know some people who do that. And here's why they do it.
It's a sense of danger. And a lot of people like that danger element in
sex. So they want to have sex and maybe they'll get caught. And that kind
of heightens their-- whatever."


--On October 21, 2003, O'Reilly said the following:

"Put yourself in this position. You make an enemy. That person accuses you
of some sex crime, maybe harassment. You're totally innocent, but the
accusation is made public. Your life will never, ever be the same. Talking
Points believes society must rethink how this sex stuff is handled and
that those who do bogus charges should be punished. Raping a person's
character is a crime, too. And evil people who do that should be held
accountable."

O'Reilly then posed these questions to his guests:

"There's no real stats on how many sex charges, sex harassment charges,
all of that, molestation, are bogus, is there?"

"This new sexual harassment can be used as a weapon, can it not?"


--On March 23, 2004, O'Reilly interviewed Linda Mills, author of the book
"Insult to Injury: Rethinking Our Responses to Intimate Abuse." O'Reilly
previewed the segment this way: "In a moment, a professor of social work
says women may bear some responsibility for sexual harassment." During
the interview, O'Reilly explained his take on the law this way:

"Look, I think that the sexual harassment thing is used as a club, as I
said, by many women, all right. It's something they have against men, a
threat to keep men at bay in a very competitive marketplace.... You know,
there are women who manipulate themselves and use their sexuality to get
ahead, all right. And then these women will turn around and file a sexual
harassment.... But how do you prove it? It's very difficult to prove it."

O'Reilly continued: "Well, it's changed my life. I'll tell you, when I was
a thug coming up, I mean I would say almost anything around women, and now
I don't say anything, you know, that could be remotely taken-- you know,
because, obviously, I'm a big target, and any kind of a thing like that
stigmatizes you, whether you're guilty or not, doesn't it? So it's --
women -- that's a big power source for them, and I think some women use it
ruthlessly."

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