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<DIV><FONT face="Verdana Ref" size=4><A
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<H4>MARGARET CARLSON</H4>
<H1>The Missing O'Reilly Factor</H1>MARGARET CARLSON<BR><BR>October 21,
2004<BR><BR>It takes three things for a scandal to reach soap opera status: a
celebrity, sex and cable. The Bill O'Reilly mess promised all three.
<BR><BR>O'Reilly, 55, who was sued for alleged sexual harassment last week by a
33-year-old producer, is host of the highest-rated show on the highest-rated
cable news channel. (He also broadcasts on radio two hours
daily.)<BR><BR><BR><BR>The sex in the O'Reilly case, like everyone's, is
somewhat risible — replace thong in the Oval Office with loofah in the Caribbean
to get an idea. The long verbatim quotes in the complaint suggests that Andrea
Mackris, the woman bringing the suit, has audiotapes. Add a nice dollop of
hypocrisy on the part of a family-values proponent in an ostensibly happy
marriage and you've got yourself a good month's worth of shows featuring
lawyers, counselors and clergy chewing the whole thing over.<BR><BR>But the
O'Reilly scandal<STRONG> </STRONG>lacks one critical factor to drive it forward:
constant coverage on "The O'Reilly Factor." There's no bigger scold or sterner
values enforcer on TV than O'Reilly — he feasted on Bill Clinton like no other —
and ordinarily he'd be on top such a story. Unless, of course, he was the one
sitting in the eye of the storm.<BR><BR>To be fair, right after he filed a
preemptive extortion claim against Mackris and her lawyer, he briefly mentioned
his predicament on his show, without denying the charges or pressing himself on
whether they were true.<BR><BR>Otherwise, a hush has fallen over the Fox News
commentariat, and its brothers and sisters in arms. Apparently, there's no
morals police to police the morals police. I like to scold as much as the next
person, but when the shocker about virtues czar Bill Bennett gambling away
hundreds of thousands of dollars came out, I didn't demand he stop gambling,
just that he stop scolding the rest of us for the vices we try but sometimes
fail to overcome. Ditto for Rush Limbaugh, who needed treatment for his
addiction, not prison. <BR><BR>Right-wingers, of course, were late to the cause
of sexual harassment. (Remember how they were convinced that Anita Hill was just
trying to lynch Clarence Thomas?) They didn't embrace it until Paula Jones did,
and then they worked it to nearly lynch a Democratic president. <BR><BR>For
women, sexual harassment is a dicey proposition. There are no shield laws, so
the complainant needs to be a near saint, or at least never to have worn a short
skirt. Mackris is not an ideal plaintiff. Why didn't she hang up the phone on
O'Reilly? Why go to dinner with him? At the same time, on the face of it, she
has a strong case. She didn't want to give up a job at the top of the talk-show
chain. She returned to Fox News on the promise the sex talk would not resume,
then asked her boss to stop when it continued.<BR><BR>The law aside, you'd think
that even a star would have to answer to someone. In her suit, Mackris alleges
that O'Reilly said his boss, Roger Ailes, would give no quarter to some psycho
complaining about the commentator. So far, O'Reilly continues to broadcast, and
Mackris is at home on enforced "sick leave."<BR><BR><BR><BR>O'Reilly is now
hiding behind his lawyer while picking his media spots, places where the
grilling goes lightly. The morning after he discussed the case on his own show,
he was perched on a stool next to Regis and Kelly, known for coddling, not
questioning, celebrities. He promoted, without irony, his new children's book.
<BR><BR>This week O'Reilly canceled two other promotional appearances. He knew
that on CBS' "The Early Show" — where Martha Stewart kept maniacally chopping
cabbage with a large knife while insisting she wanted to focus on her salad, not
the "ridiculousness" — no one would let him focus on childrearing. <BR><BR>It's
too bad we won't have O'Reilly taking apart O'Reilly. The highest use of
celebrities is to act out morality plays. Brittany Spears' 55-hour marriage
about the time President Bush backed a constitutional amendment banning gay
marriage proved that heterosexuals are by far the greater threat to heterosexual
marriage.<BR><BR>In the end, however, celebrities inhabit a value-neutral zone.
If O'Reilly is anything like Marv Albert or Arnold Schwarzenegger, or Clinton,
he will come out better in the end than his accuser. Even when you win a sexual
harassment case (or settle, like Paula Jones), you lose (Paula
Jones).</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>