On Bill O'Reilly's Interviewing Technique
I have a love/hate attitude toward Bill O'Reilly in general. This attitude is heightened when I think of his interviewing style. Some times, I leap into the air and shout " Go get 'em, Pecos" (reflecting my short time spent in the Great South west) when Bill goes, terrier-like, after the elusive two faced Jesse Jackson or when, with those Irish eyes flashing angrily, he champions the rights of kids and the basic values of decency and civilization.
I thump my fist into the empty air, energetically agreeing, when he ruthlessly strips bare the hypocrisy of the Pro-Choice ( Pro-Abortion) narcissistic phonies and when he decries the Board of Ed allowing a cross dresser to supervise third grade children and when an arrogant Bishop spends one million dollars on his private residence. I am delighted at his occasional open declaration of his personal practice of Catholicism and so much more.
However......
I spent 15 years as an interviewer on WNBC-TV in New York City exploring the mysteries of life with heavy weights like Mother Teresa, Malcolm Muggeridge, Jackie Gleason, Bill Buckley Jr, David Susskind, Jim Farley, Malcolm Wilson, Henry Cabot Lodge,Rabbi Marc Tannenbaum and a plethora of thinkers and achievers.
Even granting that Bill is a Baby Boomer type at 53 and I am a Greatest Generation type at 81, I am in deep disagreement with his style and technique and even form ! At times, I want to do a Jimmy Cagney and smack a half grapefruit right in his face!
Real Interviewing, I insist, is about the guest. It is meant to focus on the invited one who, presumably, has much to offer. This is why he/she is invited. Interviewing means eliciting from this particular person his particular expertise and/or experience from which the viewer can learn ways of living and loving with greater satisfaction. In my own case I interviewed these famous people hopefully to help others to walk a little more joyfully with the Lord! As I have watched Bill O'R. over the past few years, it strikes me that the focus is on HIM and not on these guests. They are there for HIM, that he may use them as a platform to articulate HIS views.
How many times have I seen him ask an alleged " question" which is unnecessarily long, if not windy, and which turns out to be a STATEMENT of his views. Shortly after the unwary guest begins to attempt an answer, Billy interrupts with a fervent expression such as " I don't care.........." ( by implication what YOU say !) or even more indicative "... see..... I believe......." with both thumbs pointed back to Willie the all-knowing.
Even with such a placid, gentle and intelligent Christian gentleman as Rev. Jerry Falwell, Bill sticks an omelet on his own face. When Falwell quotes the Pope and the teaching of the Catholic Church, O'Reilly discounts theology and scholarship by saying that HE has talked with several priest friends of his who have assured him that HE, BILLY BOY is right ! What else can be new?
In effect, these are not interviews. They are platforms for the self aggrandizement of Bill O'Reilly. Certainly, he is bright, glib and very successful. He is a smash in the TV world, has several successful books about himself, has his own website, sells T shirts with HIS name on them. He is Top Level in many areas.
He is even taller than most people !
Most guests on TV talk shows are at a disadvantage from the start but particularly if the interviewer ( Bill O'R) is a dominating, abrasive personality who has total control over the time frame available in the segment. There are a few exceptional souls who can confound and perplex him like Lynne Cheney who, as a Ph.D., is equally bright, verbal and unflappable. She momentarily made him look like a surprised schoolboy being reproached by his third grade teacher !
Bill calls himself an Independent. He claims that he is neither Republican nor Democrat, Liberal nor Conservative. And he is right. His criterion is Bill O'Reilly. Damn the ideological torpedos. Full speed ahead. I ( says Billy ) am the Rule. Hence, should any guest dare ( as one rashly did ) to challenge him with a counter question, he flared up saying : ' I ASK THE QUESTIONS. THIS IS MY SHOW....' Again those Irish eyes are revealing. They flash and glare when an unruly guest seems a little reluctant to " lie down and roll over."
Still, Bill claims to be fair and objective----with no spin ! Fair, maybe. Objective, not in the least. Nor is any one of us if we are brave enough to tell the truth to ourselves. We are all biased in some way or another. But O'Reilly's strident proclamation of self personalized sheer and undiluted truth must tempt the Prop man to reach for a convenient halo and perhaps even requisition a white horse for our Hero. And why not prefix the title ST. since he is such a Bright Knight for goodness, purity, and The Righteous ?
Bill, not surprisingly, in the manner of Kings and popes, refers to himself in the third person, i.e. THE FACTOR. While commentators like Ed Koch and Rush Limbaugh allocate The Divine to themselves as " The Voice of Reason" or having gifts from God ( on loan), there is a certain tongue in cheek quality with them. This guy appears to believe it !!!! He exudes the self concept of " so mature"-" so balanced"--- " so superior."
With his open declaration of fairness, he takes 2/3 of the interview to give his views and then says to the frozen out guest, " I'll give you the last word" ( ten seconds). He listens with a bemused and patronizing smile to show how fair he is
while sending out his silent message that this is a waste of time and quite superfluous since he has already enlightened the uniformed viewing audience. Still, he says, pro forma-like, let the audience decide !
He has been described by many as arrogant, smug, self satisfied, excessively self confident and verbose. Relative to the final adjective, one is reminded of the old psychiatry manuals which describe excessive activity of the articulatory organs as usual in the elderly but pathological in others. Perhaps, Bill can be helped and solaced by the teaching on Original sin which sees all of us as wounded, limited and weak. This includes even Bill O'Reilly.
It might also free him from the every so often and unnecessary reminder to us that he attended Harvard ( for one year ). Liberation could come psychologically even for a kid from the working class of Levittown.
However, with all of that said, I still enjoy THE FACTOR in spite of Bill's grandiosity. He has tried to move many slow acting persons to do good and to change the face of the American earth. I enjoy his deflation of conformist and hyperbolic Hollywood and all his funny, insightful remarks. I will continue to watch it while disbelieving in the alleged " no spin."
I will applaud his solid, if insouciant, observations . But I will still shriek at the TV set and will yell" " Shut up, Bill, and let your guest speak." He " ain't no interviewer" even if he calls himself a journalist !
So, it looks to me like another concrete example of the half filled glass. If I can focus only on Bill's GOOD/Great qualities, I avoid wondering what kind of masochist becomes his studio whipping boy or who watches each night to get angry??????
How does one explain it?