The Fox News Channel and publisher Henry Holt are defending Bill O’Reilly amid a new accusation about his reporting. At issue: where was O’Reilly on Tuesday, March 29, 1977? Was he in Texas, where he worked as a reporter for WFAA, or was he in Manalapan, FL where, on that day, a man named George de Mohrenschildt — a friend of Kennedy assassin Lee Harvey Oswald — killed himself. In his book “Killing Kennedy” O’Reilly writes he was outside the Palm Beach County home of de Mohrenshildt’s daughter, when the suicide occurred.
The allegation was first made more than two years ago on JFKFacts.org, where it was called a “fib,” but it was revived last night in a story on the liberal website Media Matters. Former colleagues said O’Reilly was in Texas, not Florida that day. “He was not up on the porch when he heard the gunshots, he was in Dallas,” Tracy Rowlett, a former WFAA reporter and anchor says.
“Bill O’Reilly has already addressed several claims leveled against him,” Fox News says in a statement. “This is nothing more than an orchestrated campaign by far left advocates Mother Jones and Media Matters.
Responding to the unproven accusation du jour has become an exercise in futility. Fox News maintains its staunch support of O’Reilly, who is no stranger to calculated onslaughts.”
When TVNewser reached out to publisher Henry Holt for comment, we were emailed this statement: “We fully stand behind Bill O’Reilly and his bestseller ‘Killing Kennedy’ and we’re very proud to count him as one of our most important authors.”