O'Reilly to NYT Reporter: 'You Can Take It as a Threat'

Fox News host offers clips to defend reporting record
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 24, 2015 7:26 AM CST
Updated Feb 24, 2015 7:52 AM CST

On his Fox News show yesterday, Bill O'Reilly again defended himself against reports that he misled the public about what he called his "war zone" experiences. This time, he used footage from his time at CBS News to back up his assertion of the danger he faced in Buenos Aires during the Falklands War, the Los Angeles Times reports. He also took his defense off the air, by way of warning a New York Times reporter over any coverage he might take issue with: "I am coming after you with everything I have," he told her on the phone. "You can take it as a threat." Emily Steel confirmed last night that she was the reporter in question, notes Politico, saying only that "the story speaks for itself." O'Reilly was what the LA Times terms "less combative" after he aired the video last night, saying, "I want this to stop now. I hope we can stop it. I really do."

The clips released by CBS show rioting near the city's presidential palace, with protesters throwing coins at officials and police using rubber bullets. A report points to "at least some serious injuries." O'Reilly also spoke to a former NBC executive involved in that network's reporting of the protests. Don Browne described "a country at war," noting that there were "tanks on the street": "It was a very intense situation where people got hurt," Browne said, per the NY Times. Meanwhile, Mother Jones, whose reports raised the questions over O'Reilly's reporting, says the CBS footage doesn't support O'Reilly's claims that people were being "gunned down." Instead, it "corroborates the accounts of other journalists who were there and who have described it as simply a chaotic, violent protest," write David Corn and Daniel Schulman. (More Bill O'Reilly stories.)

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