Rick Sanchez Rips Bill O'Reilly For Lying About CNN And Murdered Army Recruiter (VIDEO) (UPDATED)

***UPDATED June 6*** Fox News host Bill O'Reilly was forced to apologize to CNN after anchor Rick Sanchez slammed O'Reilly for claiming that CNN didn't cover the murder of Army recruiter William Long at all during the day, instead waiting until Anderson Cooper's late night show to give it coverage. O'Reilly issued his apology to the news network after saying some "snide and surly guy on CNN" (Sanchez) pointed out that they had covered the story far more extensively than O'Reilly implied. (Video clip courtesy of Media Matters)

[WATCH]

---

CNN's Rick Sanchez slammed Bill O'Reilly Friday afternoon for his claim that CNN didn't cover the murder of Army recruiter William Long until Anderson Cooper's featured the story on "AC360."

"CNN is supposed to be the news channel," O'Reilly said to Editor & Publisher's Joe Strupp. "CNN says we don't do opinion, we do news. Only Anderson Cooper at 10:00 covered this story. Nobody else! All day long it wasn't news to cover an army recruiter gunned down in Arkansas?"

Sanchez then proceeded to play a "Daily Show"-like montage of clips of CNN anchors and reporters discussing the story all day.

"Let's see, that was Kyra Phillips, Tony Harris, Heidi Collins, Lou Dobbs, certainly you saw myself, you just saw David Mattingly there, Wolf Blitzer, we saw Kiran Chetry, we saw Erica Hill — that's nobody?" Sanchez asked.

"Let's add this up together now," Sanchez said. "We led with the story when it broke. We led with it again the next day. We analyzed the terrorism angle with experts and called former FBI agents to take us through it. And as a network, we covered the story umpteen times throughout the days, throughout all hours of those days. But Bill O'Reilly says he only saw it once. And since he only saw it once, well then that must be the truth. It doesn't matter what really happened. It doesn't matter what the record shows. All that matters is what Bill thinks he saw. We called Fox today, by the way. No response yet."

Sanchez ended with a comment on O'Reilly calling CNN the "news channel."

"O'Reilly did get one thing right," he said. "We here at CNN do say we're in the business of doing news. You know why? Because we are. And while we are far from perfect, we do check our facts before we say things. And if we get it wrong, we say so. And that is called reporting."

Watch:

Comments

[TakeTheCanolis]

Rick Sanchez was "snide and surly?" No, Billo. Just because someone exercises his right to defend himself from your baseless attacks doesn't mean he is at fault. How about apologizing for your apology?

[Oscar Pearson]

Who is Rick Sanchez?

[blairtone]

who cares?

[CynAnne]

Poor OhReally cares..very much, it appears, hence the truculent tone of that pseudo-apology..! ;) ...

[L3ftofC3nter]

I love Rich Sanchez

[kwoodberryesq]

"My Bad"?

Back when I was a teenager playing hoops on a daily basis, when a coverage was blown, or a pass was missed, we would say, "my bad"... Now this term has made it's way into suburban culture, and according to Bill, third graders are using the term...

Bill should not limit his use of the term to address just this one misstatement on his part... The show should be named, "My Bad"...

[Matt7]

THAT is the main problem I have with Republicans (I don't care WHAT O'Reilly SAYS he is).

They'd seemingly rather burn in hell than admit when they're wrong, retract a "misstatement," or offer a sincere apology.

[goldcoastsailor]

We lie, you decide.

[blairtone]

yes, gold, you certainly do - and i will decide - go, Fox News, the only fair and balanced network in North America

[force fed up]

if by fair and balanced, you mean retarded, then yes, yes it is.

[MKSinSA]

Yes, in a very unbalanced sort of way.

[NelsonBig]

Please tell me you're joking.

[CynAnne]

Fair and balanced, eh, tone?BWAhahaha! I've got your "..fair and balanced.." for ya, right here: http://mediamatters.org/search/tag/fox_news_channel ..hope you brought a big enough plate for the heapin' helpin' of crow you're about to consume..! ;) ...

[LeftRight]

That's right!! They are fair and balanced between the rightwing and the REALLY REALLY rightwing!

[TonyRome]

FAUX News:

We decieve, you believe.

[Zhonni]

I like that. I will have to borrow that on ocassions.

[sf girl]

He can't even apologize with honesty. "I was talking about primetime?" B.S.

[wiig]

Hopefully, he is also wrong when he says that they would say "my bad" in third grade. I hope our educational system is teaching proper English and that a third grader would be better able to articulate an apology. I know if my son apologized by saying "my bad", even before he was in third grade, I would have questioned what he meant.

P. S. Though, what he said might be a Freudian slip. He does possess bad as he is not very good at being accurate and honest. Additionally, he has many other things to be sorry for so maybe "my bad" was a fair statement on his part; however, I object to the implication that this is what a third grader would say.

[Yurdelite]

What's really amazing is that a court said Fox News can lie to the people--no problem.

[workingliberal]

But they're FAIR & BALANCED and every other news sourse is part of the "evil, liberal" mainstream media! America is being destroyed and only FAUX knows the truth!!

[MaxPowerXP]

do you really want the government telling broadcast outlets what they can and cannot say?

[LeftRight]

When they claim to be news, I want them to tell the truth, even if that means that the government tells them that they cannot lie. If they were to rename themselves Fox Op/Ed Network, then I don't want the government to tell them!

[DrLogic]

Well, I hate to break it down for you, but if O'Reilly says Sanchez was snide and surly, he must be. Because if there's one thing BO knows better than anything else, it's how to be snide and surly.

He lied about something and was clearly proven wrong. And this is how he "apologizes".

[cbates]

Abortion is not the core of our focus today. Please, don't get me wrong the need to abort is a tragic decision and/or act that affects you throughout life even if it is a medical necessity. The FN folks are using the murder of the doctor as a focal point for the right wing of the GOP. The discussion needs to stay on moving this country forward to a better day wherein we will be able to better manage these events. That is, we need to focus on security, the economy, education, and energy. If we are successful in those areas then we will be successful in the abortion opportunities. Let us stay focused and not be distracted by this and other opportunities that are not going to change/secure our position in the world.

[teale]

the problem is those who watch FOX believe everything they are told and unless they saw sanchez here or live they still believe what oreilly says..that's why he must be challenged

[Whitecastle]

It appears to me that O'Reilly is slurring his words a bit. I suspect that he was intoxicated during his apology.

[AnthonyVolpe]

CNN has its problems, but Sanchez is one of its bright spots.

[blairtone]

If that's a bright spot, CNN is in even more trouble than is known

[wadenelson1]

When will O'Reilly apologize to Dr. Tiller's family, friends, patients, and community?

[DrLogic]

The way BO apologizes, it would probably result in a brick lobbed through their window or a pipe placed strategically against one of their knees.

He really knows how to set the bar high...

[blairtone]

maybe when CNN, MSNBC and NBC apologize for their complicity in the shoo*ing death of sold*er Long

[LeftRight]

Explain how they were complicit, since there wasn't a single person on ANY of those networks saying that recruiters (or even soldiers) were killers or murderers on a regular basis, and almost calling for their murder!!!

[Reefdancer]

That was an apology?