Object lesson in How Not to Tell a Lie: don't claim something that can be easily rebutted by the facts and multiple witnesses.
Bill O'Reilly's account of a 1982 riot in Argentina is being sharply contradicted by seven other journalists who were his colleagues and were also there at the time.
The people all challenge O'Reilly's depiction of Buenos Aires as a "war zone" and a "combat situation." They also doubt his description of a CBS cameraman being injured in the chaos.
"Nobody remembers this happening," said Manny Alvarez, who was a cameraman for CBS News in Buenos Aires.
Read the full story here.
It's hard to see how O'Reilly's claims will stand up in the face of multiple other journalists (CBS staffers and others) now wondering if they and O'Reilly actually covered the same story.
Longtime NBC News correspondent George Lewis, who was also there at the time, agreed with Engberg, writing on Facebook, "Cushiest war I ever covered."
Did O'Reilly's photographer get "run down" and bloodied?
CNN has interviewed seven people who were there for CBS, and none of them recall anyone from the network being injured.
"If somebody got hurt, we all would have known," Alvarez said.
Brian Williams gets a six month suspension (and perhaps more... we'll have to see). Though few in the news business take Fox as a purveyor of high journalistic standards, one wonders when -- if only to preserve the few remaining shreds of their self-image as "serious journalists" -- they will take action with O'Reilly. Anyone want to start a pool as to when Bill's "early spring break" will begin? I'm taking Thursday... and I'm really hoping it's sooner than that. Especially as those who were there continue to weigh in and show O'Reilly for what he really is.