My new man to despise: Bill O'Reilly. Actually I guess I've despised him for quite some time now, but here's a candid report of what happens in the "no-spin zone". Excerpt:
Prof. COLE: No, nobody should be surprised. But when he says sanctimoniously says, `We can't have spin; it's dividing the country; you know, the spin has got to stop,' and then he starts accusing another media outlet of engaging in that spin--all I was saying was, `Look, Bill, you're doing the exact same thing.' And as soon as I said that, he literally blew up. He screamed at me; he called me an SOB three times. He said, `We will not put this accusation on air when we show the thing, and you're never, ever going to be on this show again.' And sure enough, when the show aired...
Update: I've cut-and-pasted from the Google cache since the original link (http://www.cablenewser.com/original/cole_transcript_july1.htm) seems to be broken.
Transcript:
David Cole on CNBC's Capital Report:
ALAN MURRAY, co-host: All right, David Cole, give us the short version. What happened?
Professor DAVID COLE (Georgetown University): Well, the short version is I was invited to be on the show. I sit there as Bill O'Reilly is recording his intro, which is essentially that "The Factor" had established that there was a link between Iraq and al-Qaida. And then he says, `And Thomas Kean--here's what Thomas Kean of the 9-11 Commission said over the weekend.'
MURRAY: We've got that bite. Let's listen. Let's listen to that, and you can tell us what happened then.
Mr. THOMAS KEAN (9-11 Commission): (From "The O'Reilly Factor") ...we can find whatsoever that Iraq or Saddam Hussein participated in any way in attacks on the United States--in other words, on 9/11. What we do say, however, is there were contacts between Iraq and Saddam Hussein. Iraq--Saddam Hussein--excuse me, al-Qaida...
MURRAY: So what happened when he played that soundbite?
Prof. COLE: Well, so I'm impressed because he's playing a balanced soundbite. Maybe all the things Al Franken said about him were not true. But suddenly he interrupts; he says, `We can't use that. We've got to redo this.' Two minutes of silence, he comes back re-records the whole segment verbatim, except when he gets to Kean, he doesn't use the soundbite but instead paraphrases it to say that Kean had said that the 9-11 Commission has definitely found a connection between al-Qaeda...
MURRAY: And then you had the nerve to bring this up later on the show, when you...
Prof. COLE: I didn't bring it up right away. But we were talking about a New York Times article, and he kept mischaracterizing The New York Times article. And his whole thing was about how we can't have this spin from The New York Times; it's dividing the country. `The spin must stop; our lives depend on it,' he said. And he keeps mischaracterizing The New York Times article; I keep saying he's not. Finally I say to him, `Bill, it seems like the pot's calling the kettle black here, because I sat here five minutes ago and saw you re-record the intro to cut out a statement that you found'...
MURRAY: But here's the thing I've got to ask you about this. I mean, you know, going on Bill O--we all know; anybody who watches Bill O'Reilly's show for five minutes knows he has a strong point of view and knows what that point of view is. Why should anybody be surprised that he would edit out a soundbite that didn't fit the direction he's going in.
Prof. COLE: No, nobody should be surprised. But when he says sanctimoniously says, `We can't have spin; it's dividing the country; you know, the spin has got to stop,' and then he starts accusing another media outlet of engaging in that spin--all I was saying was, `Look, Bill, you're doing the exact same thing.' And as soon as I said that, he literally blew up. He screamed at me; he called me an SOB three times. He said, `We will not put this accusation on air when we show the thing, and you're never, ever going to be on this show again.' And sure enough, when the show aired...
MURRAY: It was gone.
Prof. COLE: ...he cut that out entirely, and there's no `Thank you--you know, thank you very much, Mr. Cole. Goodbye.'
MURRAY: But, look, I mean, O'Reilly obviously has conflicting viewpoints on his show. He invited you on. There's no secret that you're sort of a liberal critic of the Patriot Act and other anti-war--I'm sorry, anti-terror measures that the administration is taking. So what's the problem?
Prof. COLE: Well, I mean, the problem--there's no question he has a strong point of view. He's willing to argue. But when he does it in an underhanded way, he uses the editing room floor to cut out anything that contradicts his point of view, and then starts accusing other media outlets of spinning, you know, I just think it is the pot calling the kettle black. And you know, maybe everyone's spinning, but then he shouldn't be sanctimoniously saying, you know, `The spin's gotta stop; our lives depend on it.'
MURRAY: If there was any chance he was going to invite you back, it certainly went away after you took this public and started making cake batter.
Prof. COLE: Yeah, well, I...
MURRAY: What are you trying to accomplish here?
Prof. COLE: Well, when he said that, `I'm not going to invite you back,' I wasn't sure whether I should take that as a threat or a promise. You know, what I'm trying to accomplish is, you know, he used the power of the editing--the cutting-room floor to edit out my criticisms...
MURRAY: But don't you think everybody does that to some extent?
Prof. COLE: You know, to some extent, but I've been on lots of shows; this is the first time that I have been cut off because I made a comment that the interviewer was troubled by. I mean, you know, sometimes things are cut for time, etc., but this was not cut for time. This was cut because I had criticized him too sharply and he wasn't willing to let the viewers see that.
MURRAY: Well, maybe...
Prof. COLE: And I think the viewers should see that, and I'm glad you had me here to talk about it.
MURRAY: And we're not going to cut anything you said, and maybe in a future show, Bill O'Reilly will let us see you and him going at it on his show.
Prof. COLE: That'd be great.
MURRAY: Thanks very much for being on CAPITAL REPORT, David Cole.
Prof. COLE: Thank you.
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