Non-partisan website Politifact.com analyzes Fox News' Bill O'Reilly's claim that he did not call murdered physician George Tiller "Tiller the baby killer" as his own opinion but was only reporting the views of some in the pro-life movement.
We searched transcripts of The O'Reilly Factor, his show that appears on the Fox News Channel. We found at least 42 instances of O'Reilly mentioning Tiller by name, going back to 2005. In 24 instances, we found that O'Reilly referred to Tiller specifically as a "baby killer." Most of the time, O'Reilly would simply refer to the Tiller as "Tiller the baby killer" or as "Dr. George Tiller, known as Tiller the baby killer" without attributing it to anyone. We found four times when O'Reilly said that "some" called him Tiller the baby killer. We did not find any instance where O'Reilly named an individual or a particular anti-abortion group that referred to Tiller that way.
These instances and others we reviewed clearly show that O'Reilly was not reporting the views of others, but was expressing his own views on the doctor. O'Reilly said in his column that "Some pro-lifers branded" Tiller a baby killer, "and I reported it," as if he were reporting the views of others. But the transcripts show O'Reilly repeatedly referred to Tiller as a baby killer without attribution. So we find his statement that liberal groups are targeting him for his reporting of what others said to be False.
--Ballard Burgher
Monday, June 8, 2009
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