Rupert Murdoch has sicced his favorite henchman on the media reform movement, sending a crew from The O'Reilly Factor to dig for dirt at this weekend's National Conference for Media Reform.
During his Wednesday night broadcast Bill O'Reilly called Dan Rather's attendance at this week's Minneapolis conference proof positive that the former CBS anchor was farther than far left. "These people are crazy! Crazy!" O'Reilly said of the more than 3,000 people attending the conference. "He's hanging with real nuts!"
What O'Reilly is afraid to admit is that the media reform movement encompasses everyone who thinks our mainstream media -- that means you, Bill -- could do a lot better.
Call us crazy but you don't have to be liberal or conservative, rich or poor, white or black to know that Fox News' trash-talking, prime-time headliner is little more than an apologist for those in power -- and especially for his boss Rupert.
Murdoch's News Corp has spent tens of millions of dollars on well-heeled lobbyists who roam the halls of Washington to peddle policies that allow Murdoch to gobble up local media outlets without any respect for journalism or accountability to the public -- you know, people like you and me, whose interests O'Reilly claims to be looking out for in the "No Spin Zone."
O'Reilly's real aim is to discredit those of us who have caused his boss so much heartache -- who by our outspoken activism have shown that Murdoch's idea of media consolidation is bad for journalism, bad for democracy and just plain bad for America.
Our movement now numbers in the millions, and, as evidenced by last month's tremendous victory in the Senate, we've started chalking up wins against the lumbering media conglomerates that still control the news agenda for millions of Americans.
O'Reilly has every right to be scared because we're coming after him and the broken and dishonest media system he represents.
As he wrapped his segment O'Reilly pledged "on Monday, we're going to show you how crazy [media reformers] really are."
So if you're coming to the Conference, be on the alert for a Fox News crew stalking the halls of the Minneapolis Convention Center. Let them know what we really stand for.