Mother Jones Uses Bill O'Reilly Flap in Fundraising Email
Tuesday, 24 Feb 2015 10:28 PM
Mother Jones is using its current squabble with Fox News host Bill O'Reilly in an effort to raise funds for its website.
Mother Jones publisher Steve Katz sent an email to supporters Tuesday night with the subject line: "We're 'garbage,' according to Bill O'Reilly."
Mother Jones Washington Bureau Chief David Corn and Senior Editor Daniel Shulman on Feb. 19 published a story questioning O'Reilly's claims to have reported from a war zone in Argentina during the Falklands War.
O'Reilly immediately fired back, going on a media blitz to condemn the article, including on Fox News Channel's "The O'Reilly Factor."
O'Reilly said he never claimed to have been present at the fighting on the Falkland Islands, but that he had covered what he called a dangerous riot in Buenos Aires in which the military fired on protesters.
O'Reilly called Corn "an irresponsible guttersnipe, a far left zealot," and said Mother Jones is "the bottom rung of journalism in America."
In the email, Katz pointed out those words as well as noting that Corn should be "in the kill zone" over his claims.
In the days following the initial report, former colleagues — including former CBS reporter Eric Engberg — have reported that O'Reilly's version of the events are untrue. O'Reilly produced other colleagues who backed up his story, including former NBC News Central and South America Bureau Chief Don Browne.
Video from CBS News' own broadcast from 1982 backed up O'Reilly's story that the protests were met with violence, and gunfire can be heard on the tape.
Mother Jones' email reads like similar fundraising efforts by political parties in which a bogeyman from the opposite party is portrayed as a threat to the values of the email receiver.
"It's outrageous, and I hope you'll consider donating to Mother Jones right now," Katz says in the email. "Let Bill O'Reilly know that we will never let personal attacks stop us from doing what you — our readers and supporters — expect from us: producing smart, fearless journalism."
The email continues: "And it just so happens that if you pitch in today, you can also help us show Bill O'Reilly that when he attacks our reporting and our reporters, it makes us stronger. Better equipped to do the type of in-depth investigative reporting that no one else does, that we're proud of, and that we simply could not do without support from readers like you."
Donations to the 501(c)3 nonprofit are tax deductible, the email notes.
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© 2015 Newsmax. All rights reserved.Mother Jones publisher Steve Katz sent an email to supporters Tuesday night with the subject line: "We're 'garbage,' according to Bill O'Reilly."
Mother Jones Washington Bureau Chief David Corn and Senior Editor Daniel Shulman on Feb. 19 published a story questioning O'Reilly's claims to have reported from a war zone in Argentina during the Falklands War.
O'Reilly said he never claimed to have been present at the fighting on the Falkland Islands, but that he had covered what he called a dangerous riot in Buenos Aires in which the military fired on protesters.
O'Reilly called Corn "an irresponsible guttersnipe, a far left zealot," and said Mother Jones is "the bottom rung of journalism in America."
In the email, Katz pointed out those words as well as noting that Corn should be "in the kill zone" over his claims.
In the days following the initial report, former colleagues — including former CBS reporter Eric Engberg — have reported that O'Reilly's version of the events are untrue. O'Reilly produced other colleagues who backed up his story, including former NBC News Central and South America Bureau Chief Don Browne.
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Mother Jones' email reads like similar fundraising efforts by political parties in which a bogeyman from the opposite party is portrayed as a threat to the values of the email receiver.
"It's outrageous, and I hope you'll consider donating to Mother Jones right now," Katz says in the email. "Let Bill O'Reilly know that we will never let personal attacks stop us from doing what you — our readers and supporters — expect from us: producing smart, fearless journalism."
The email continues: "And it just so happens that if you pitch in today, you can also help us show Bill O'Reilly that when he attacks our reporting and our reporters, it makes us stronger. Better equipped to do the type of in-depth investigative reporting that no one else does, that we're proud of, and that we simply could not do without support from readers like you."
Related Stories:
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