At first, Fox News seemed terrified at the prospect of Donald Trump becoming the 2016 Republican nominee, but since he became the presumptive nominee, the network has shifted and is now going whole hog in an effort to promote and help elect the Donald.
Witness what took place last night on Bill O’Reilly’s show. O’Reilly, who has been a hack reporter (and even that is an insult to hacks) his entire life, was interviewing real journalist Bob Woodward, and O’Reilly put forth the proposition that any woman who calls herself a feminist should not be allowed to report on Donald Trump:
“If I’m an editor and I know there is a feminist woman in my newsroom, who is brilliant because I think this woman is an excellent reporter, I don’t let her report on a guy like Trump because Trump is the antithesis of that. And so I don’t want any margin of error here, there are plenty of reporters who can do the story. Do you not see that?”
Woodward quickly disabused O’Reilly of that ignorant belief, telling him:
“Yeah, look, I really disagree. There are feminists on the left and the right as you know, and somebody can put their personal feelings and conclusions in their back pocket and keep them there.”
That’s what they call journalistic objectivity and professionalism, two things O’Reilly knows nothing about and never will, as he proved by adding:
“I guess it’s possible; I haven’t seen it much. I guess it’s possible.”
O’Reilly then said the New York Times had made a mistake letting Megan Twohey and Michael Barbaro report on Trump’s atrocious behavior towards women over the years:
“She is a feminist. Trump is a beauty contestant purveyor. Do you let a feminist report on a beauty contestant person who is now turned politician?”
Once again Woodward attempted to give the clueless O’Reilly a lesson in journalism:
“Well, of course. That doesn’t condemn somebody and say they can’t report on X or Y. Somebody is a conservative or a liberal, that doesn’t mean they can’t report. As we learn over the decades, the best reporters may have feelings and personal conclusions, and they can edit those and filter those things out.”
Unless that person happens to work for Fox News like O’Reilly does.
Watch the exchange for yourself:
Featured Image Via Fox News Screengrab
