Have you read this study about Bill O'Reilly?

Question

Fascinating.

http://newsinfo.iu.edu/news/page/normal/5535.html

...What the IU researchers found in their study, "Villains, Victims and Virtuous in Bill O'Reilly's 'No Spin Zone': Revisiting World War Propaganda Techniques," was that he was prone to inject fear into his commentaries and quick to resort to name-calling. He also frequently assigned roles or attributes -- such as "villians" or downright "evil" -- to people and groups.

Using analysis techniques first developed in the 1930s by the Institute for Propaganda Analysis, Conway, Grabe and Grieves found that O'Reilly employed six of the seven propaganda devices nearly 13 times each minute in his editorials. His editorials also are presented on his Web site and in his newspaper columns.

The seven propaganda devices include:

Name calling -- giving something a bad label to make the audience reject it without examining the evidence;
Glittering generalities -- the oppositie of name calling;
Card stacking -- the selective use of facts and half-truths;
*click link, read whole thing*

Hey, here is a link to the data from the study - AMAZING!

http://journalism.indiana.edu/papers/oreilly.html

Answer 1

Ha. Wow. This is an awesome study; thanks so much for the links. We need more of this type of research out of our university journalism/comm arts departments.

I'm printing these off to show to my dad, who is, for some inexplicable reason, a great O'Reilly fan.

Answer 2

His show is editorial in nature, which he acknowledges, and that's why he voices opinions. Having an opinion isn't intrinsically 'spin.' For O'Reilly, I think 'no spin' means 'I'm going to tell you how I think it is and I'm not going to dress it up as unbiased or objective journalism.' I'm sure he believes he's objectively correct from his viewpoint, but he doesn't operate under the same notion that most news programs do. Most pretend that they're being objective, but you can pick up hints of an agenda. Then a huge debate explodes over whether the media are left- or right-wing biased. O'Reilly, like him or not, lays it all out there.

To be honest, I don't especially like him. I agree with him maybe half the time, and usually for different reasons. I don't find him all that smart or self-critical, but sometimes he's entertaining. And that whole sexual harassment incident made him a scumbag in my eyes. So, I'm not trying to defend him because I like him. I don't like him all that much. I just want to evaluate what 'spin' really is, as well as what's more damaging in journalism - blatant and open editorialism or the guise of objectivity. I think the latter.

Answer 3

Well I knew the media was all propaganda anyways, but yeesh, Bill O'Reilly over does it.

Answer 4

This is fascinating! I didn't read it all yet, I just skimmed, but I emailed it to myself, so that I can read it later when I have more time. I always knew that he was quilty of propaganda spinning, he has globalist wannabe written all over him! *sm*

Answer 5

I think that the study is biased in favor of Bill O'Reilly.

He uses a lot more propaganda than that.

Answer 6

Great source !
Indiana University is a fine Red State School.
The kind of people you can trust (really - no joke).

Answer 7

Having gone to the site you source it appears that O'Reilly's only offense is having a different point of view than the authors of your sited study. Difference of opinion is not propaganda. The authores of your sited study seem to exixt in a world that encourages censorship and seeks to criminalize politics and opposing points of view. If you buy into this you are indeed sad

Answer 8

While I tend to agree with some of the points, I also see the same use of the techniques in the study itself as they compare Bill to WW1 propagandists. I'm surprised they didn't just go ahead and compare him to Hitler. I wonder at the political leanings of those that did the "study".

Answer 9

Yes, palin needs to read and become educated. Unfortunately, she is too busy to do either.

Answer 10

Good job Bill! If the shoe fits, wear it!