After ThinkProgress.org's managing editor Amanda Terkel wrote a blog entry critical of Fox News anchor Bill O'Reilly, the bloviator-in-chief sent a producer, Jesse Watters, to stalk Terkel.
It was a standard O'Reilly stunt, referred to as "ambush journalism." The TV tough guy's gone after dozens of targets using this technique.
But Terkel pushed back. She wrote about the incident in an article headlined "I Was Followed, Harassed, And Ambushed By Bill O'Reilly's Producer."
John Nichols
After ThinkProgress.org’s managing editor Amanda Terkel wrote a blog entry critical of Fox News anchor Bill O’Reilly, the bloviator-in-chief sent a producer, Jesse Watters, to stalk Terkel.
It was a standard O’Reilly stunt, referred to as “ambush journalism.” The TV tough guy’s gone after dozens of targets using this technique.
But Terkel pushed back. She wrote about the incident in an article headlined “I Was Followed, Harassed, And Ambushed By Bill O’Reilly’s Producer.”
Then the Center for American Progress (CAP) used their Action Fund to launched a “Stop Supporting The O’Reilly Harassment Machine” campaign that urged Americans to: “Tell O’Reilly’s advertisers that you want them to issue a clear statement explaining their opposition to O’Reilly’s ‘ambush journalism.'” The response has been overwhelming, from viewers and others who were sick of ambush “journalism.”
And the campaign seems to be working. On Friday afternoon, the CAP Action Fund announced that UPS would stop advertising on O’Reilly’s show. Here’s the CAP statement:
In response to our Stop Supporting The O’Reilly Harassment Machine campaign, UPS told us yesterday that it was investigating whether to continue supporting O’Reilly’s show. “We are sensitive to the type of television programming where our messages and presence are associated and continually review choices to affect future decisions,” spokeswoman Susan Rosenberg told us.
Today UPS announced it will stop advertising on O’Reilly’s show. Here is the statement UPS emailed out just moments ago:
Thank you for sending an e-mail expressing concern about UPS advertising during the Bill O’Reilly show on FOX News. We do consider such comments as we review ad placement decisions which involve a variety of news, entertainment and sports programming. At this time, we have no plans to continue advertising during this show.
John NicholsTwitterJohn Nichols is a national affairs correspondent for The Nation. He has written, cowritten, or edited over a dozen books on topics ranging from histories of American socialism and the Democratic Party to analyses of US and global media systems. His latest, cowritten with Senator Bernie Sanders, is the New York Times bestseller It's OK to Be Angry About Capitalism.