In an interview with Newsmax, Bill O’Reilly talks politics and TV. On the topic of FNC’s cable competitors:
“CNN was at the top of the hill when we came in thirteen-and-a-half years ago…What happened to CNN? Basically they stayed where they were ten years ago. They did not change with the times…
“We live in a very intense country, a very difficult time. CNN does not reflect that urgency. They basically report the news. And they do a good job. If you watched their Haiti coverage, it was excellent.
“But people in the United States now…they want analysis and perspective from a cable network, particularly in prime time…CNN doesn’t give you that, so that’s why they have fallen off dramatically. Programs like Larry King are a shadow of what they used to be.
“MSNBC made the key mistake of hiring bad people. It’s as simple as that. They’ve got a bunch of guttersnipes on their network, that, even if you’re a liberal, which is what they sell, you don’t like these people…And then you turn on MSNBC and you see these people attacking personally, they’re throwing all kinds of stuff around. People go, ‘It’s unpleasant. I’m not going to watch it.’ And they don’t.”