O'Reilly V. The King

O’Reilly v. The King

The news has been used to shape the thoughts of countries for decades now. CNN, the first network to report only news for 24 hours a day, is known primarily for the trust of its viewers. Larry King Live a major hit show on the network features an incredibly famous anchor, Leibel Harvey Zeiger, who changed his name to Larry King prior to his days of fame. Larry, or “The King” as some refer to him, has a new episode every night in which he mostly interviews one on one with his interviewee. Rarely does he interview more than one person on his show. He is known for his trademark large glasses, rolled up sleeves, tie, and suspenders. He is also recognized as the man who seeks out the “truth” behind every story. The O’Reilly Factor is conservative Fox News’s alternative to CNN’s Larry King Live. Its anchor, Bill O’Reilly is known first and foremost for his carefree, mostly offensive behavior as well as biased opinions and comments. He often uses his guests as “punching bags” as he bombards them by insults and personal attacks through very opinionated statements. The tactics used by O’Reilly can be viewed as tools to shape the opinions of his viewers to match his own, compared to The King’s less biased methods of letting the viewers decide for themselves.

The King has always been known as a liberal minded figure. Attempts have been made by the Republicans on several occasions to discredit The King because of his liberal views. So far they have been unsuccessful due to The King’s presentation of the news. Rarely does he directly put his thoughts on the matter in the minds of his viewers. He behaves as a professional and treats his guests with respect no matter what their political opinions are. On many occasions has he changed his own views by the end of an interview showing his open mindedness as well as his desire to uncover the truth. At times he does interviews with celebrities (“junk news”) for the sake of ratings. However, he covers any important political news. His tendency to engage in one-on-one interviews shows his dedication and thoroughness to the matter at hand. He is a true journalist.

The O’Reilly

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