The O'Reilly Factor

Among the many day time, night time, and prime time news shows out there, the O’Reilly Factor stands out to audiences. While many viewers criticize Bill O’Reilly, I am a personal fan and I defend his broadcast. In order to properly critique this show, I rummaged through my brain for descriptions and watched his shows again to refresh my mind. To help make a critical case, I will follow the five-step critical process which includes description, analysis, interpretation, evaluation, and engagement.

The O’Reilly factor is a new show that relays current events that O’Reilly deems as important to an audience. Generally, there is a schedule and natural order of things. Usually, O’Reilly begins the show with “Talking Points Memo” where he provides his personal view points on a current event or topic. Subsequently, he then transitions to a breaking story and then presents the “impact” which is where he gives important topics more attention than the regular media. Other segments are included for entertaining and educational purposes. Of them, some examples include “pinheads and patriots,” “Factor mail,” and even a body language expert. One thing that can be noticed and commended about this show is both sides are represented in debates and on issues. Additionally, when he reads his “Factor mail,” he reads one in support of him and one opposing him.

To further the critical process, one must analyze her research on the topic. Like most news shows, the camera work is half the effort when appealing to an audience. On the O’Reilly factor, Bill’s hand gestures can be seen and he is allowed to show more passion in his argument whereas the interviewee rarely gets to show any emotion or hand signs due to the camera’s proximity. In addition to the different camera zooms, when in a debate, O’Reilly often uses the split-screen effect. He is always on the left side of the screen while his opponent in the debate is on the right. During the “Pinhead and Patriot” and “Factor mail” segments, Bill always says thank you to the patriots and those in support of him but to the pinheads and those opposing him, he usually has the last word to defend himself. Overall, Bill O’Reilly is patriotic and while he comes off as conservative, he is an Independent. Sometimes he is criticized by the Democratic Party because of this.

So, what does this mean? Well, everything that happens on T.V. and in the media is no accident. Everything from a body gesture to a camera angle can be interpreted in some way which happens to be step three in the critical process. Bill O’Reilly is obviously the man in charge on this operation. Anyone can tell, even just by the camera angle. Because of the distance Bill is from the camera, he can lean in and out to show emotion or carelessness and he is able to show his strong hand gestures to prove a point. The interviewee does not have this luxury. Instead, they have an up-close, portrait shot where the audience is unable to see any hand gestures or body language. This puts them at a disadvantage to Bill. On to our next point, why is Bill O’Reilly always on the left in the split-screen shots? This could be because of coincidence or it could be because humans read left to right and therefore are drawn more to the left side of the screen. Again, this gives Bill dominance. It’s no wonder he is often accused of bullying. However, people still consent to appear on his show. His motivations and tactics are no secret to Americans and surely no secret to his peers and colleagues.

After the interpretation step is the evaluation step where I make an informed judgment or critique based on the previous three steps. Although I am aware of Bill O’Reilly’s bias toward certain opinions, I am also aware that this is not a typical news show. Instead, it should be listed as a commentator show. Because I know this, I can take and appreciate the O’Reilly Factor for what it is. It’s just one way to provide factual (although sometimes biased) news to the public in an entertaining way. Because the Factor is not your standard news show, it has some wiggle room to add and subtract segments based on what the audience wants. One thing the O’Reilly Factor does well is getting a variety of people on board for interviews and paying close and specific attention to topics the regular news casts only touch on. On this show, the public can get opinions and watch heated debates all the time which helps them formulate an opinion of their own. Although this show has some controversy, Bill O’Reilly handles it well.

The fifth and final step to the critical process is engagement. Is this show helping or hurting American media literacy? Does it best serve our democracy? I believe the O’Reilly Factor does support media literacy and serves our American democracy well. Because Bill is patriotic, he sets a fine example for Americans to follow. He invites his viewers to be engaged in the political process most notably by the “Factor mail” and just giving the current events to his audience the way he sees them. There is no beating around the bush with him. This way, people don’t have an excuse to complain about the cut and dry way the news is presented. No longer can people sit back and be cynics about their lives and their fellow citizen’s lives. Bill O’Reilly promotes the idea of being proactively involved in the political process and contributes with his show which is on at a variety of times so people can view when it’s convenient for them.

Communication has grown since the beginning of time and has gotten more and more complex with age. Although some people accuse the mass media of being heartless and only thinking about money, where would we be without it? Most likely, we’d be back in the Stone Age. The truth is, nothing is perfect and everything has some good and bad to it. Personally, I’m glad to have a prominent media in our culture and society and the O’Reilly Factor is up there with my favorites. Now with a critical point of view, I can say that O’Reilly produces quality news in an entertaining way to appeal to the masses. His spin on things gives our culture more variety and taste. After really divulging myself into the O’Reilly Factor, I can say it is a good show that benefits the citizens of America.