So here’s where we stand on day 10 of the non-truce:
On his show tonight Bill O’Reilly went after the White House asking, “Has the Obama administration declared war with Fox News?” due in part because, “CNN and MSNBC generally support Pres. Obama especially in the healthcare arena,” said O’Reilly. “Our ratings are already soaring because we don’t denigrate the protesters like many other TV news organizations do, they’re dying, we’re on fire.”
He’s right. Last night, O’Reilly posted another big night with 3.19M Total Viewers and 856K in the A25-54 demo. Fox News beat CNN, MSNBC, HLN, and CNBC combined in Total Viewers and in the A25-54 demo in primetime.
Meanwhile, on his show tonight, Keith Olbermann went after O’Reilly and his investigation last night into the “evil empire” GE. Olbermann quoted from a new AP story from David Bauder which included reaction from General Electric on O’Reilly’s story. “We usually do not respond to the misleading and inaccurate claims made on this program because very few people take them seriously,” said spokesman Gary Sheffer, “but [Tuesday’s] report took this smear campaign to a new low.”
Olbermann then said O’Reilly should be fired for the report: “If I — or any actual reporter, like me — had gotten as much wrong in any story as Bill O’Reilly got wrong in this one, I’d be fired in 15 minutes. As he should be now!” And Olbermann did the segment without the O’Reilly voice.
Fox News maintains an agreement to end personal attacks allows for each network to cover the other, and their corporate parents, as news warrants.
• Poll: Are you tired of the GE/Olbermann vs. News Corp./O’Reilly feud yet?
As always, both clips from tonight’s shows, after the jump…