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Bill O'Reilly lied about coverage of combat in Falklands War, acted in disruptive manner: ex-CBS colleague
The accusations continue to pile on for Bill O'Reilly about whether or not he did in fact cover a combat zone when reporting on the Falklands War in 1982.
Another former colleague who was with O'Reilly claimed in a lengthy post on his Facebook page the scene was nothing more than "routine reporting on a demonstration that got a little nasty."
Former CBS News correspondent Eric Engberg wrote the "bloviater" O'Reilly, who was "full of brio and confidence," was misrepresenting the situation to "burnish his credentials as a ‘war correspondent’" and should be "ashamed of himself."
"I don't think it's as big a lie as Brian Williams told because O'Reilly hasn't falsely claimed to be the target of an enemy attack, but he has displayed a willingness to twist the truth in a way that seeks to invent a battlefield that did not exist," Engberg wrote. "And he ought to be subject to the same scrutiny Williams faced."
Engberg and O'Reilly were two of five correspondents dispatched to cover the conflict off the coast of Argentina in 1982, but the group was in Buenos Aires — about a thousand miles away from the conflict.
"To begin with 'covering' is an overstatement of what we were doing," Engberg wrote. "We were in Buenos Aires because that's the only place the Argentine military junta would let journalists go. Our knowledge of the war was restricted to what we could glean from comically deceitful daily briefings given by the Argentine military and watching government-controlled television to try to pick up a useful clue from propaganda broadcasts."
The American reporters "were all in the same, modern hotel and we never saw any troops, casualties or weapons. It was not a war zone or even close. It was an 'expense account zone,'" he wrote.
When Argentina surrendered, a group of reporters were sent to the streets to cover the mass public's angry reaction.
"O'Reilly was the one person who behaved unprofessionally and without regard for the safety of the camera crew he was leading," he said.
The reporters had been instructed not to turn on their lights out of fear the people would react violently to American journalists because of the country's support of Britain in the conflict, he wrote. But O'Reilly demanded his cameraman use his lights for his reports,
And when O'Reilly was told his footage would be used in a main package narrated by the anchor Bob Schieffer, he exploded. "I didn't come down here to have my footage used by that old man."
This led to Larry Doyle, the CBS bureau chief in Buenos Aires, telling CBS that O'Reilly had become a "disruptive force" who threatened his bureau's morale and cohesion and he was sent home, Engberg wrote.
The accusations continue to pile on for Bill O'Reilly about whether or not he did in fact cover a combat zone when reporting on the Falklands War in 1982.
Another former colleague who was with O'Reilly claimed in a lengthy post on his Facebook page the scene was nothing more than "routine reporting on a demonstration that got a little nasty."
Former CBS News correspondent Eric Engberg wrote the "bloviater" O'Reilly, who was "full of brio and confidence," was misrepresenting the situation to "burnish his credentials as a ‘war correspondent’" and should be "ashamed of himself."
"I don't think it's as big a lie as Brian Williams told because O'Reilly hasn't falsely claimed to be the target of an enemy attack, but he has displayed a willingness to twist the truth in a way that seeks to invent a battlefield that did not exist," Engberg wrote. "And he ought to be subject to the same scrutiny Williams faced."
Engberg and O'Reilly were two of five correspondents dispatched to cover the conflict off the coast of Argentina in 1982, but the group was in Buenos Aires — about a thousand miles away from the conflict.
"To begin with 'covering' is an overstatement of what we were doing," Engberg wrote. "We were in Buenos Aires because that's the only place the Argentine military junta would let journalists go. Our knowledge of the war was restricted to what we could glean from comically deceitful daily briefings given by the Argentine military and watching government-controlled television to try to pick up a useful clue from propaganda broadcasts."
The American reporters "were all in the same, modern hotel and we never saw any troops, casualties or weapons. It was not a war zone or even close. It was an 'expense account zone,'" he wrote.
When Argentina surrendered, a group of reporters were sent to the streets to cover the mass public's angry reaction.
"O'Reilly was the one person who behaved unprofessionally and without regard for the safety of the camera crew he was leading," he said.
The reporters had been instructed not to turn on their lights out of fear the people would react violently to American journalists because of the country's support of Britain in the conflict, he wrote. But O'Reilly demanded his cameraman use his lights for his reports,
And when O'Reilly was told his footage would be used in a main package narrated by the anchor Bob Schieffer, he exploded. "I didn't come down here to have my footage used by that old man."
This led to Larry Doyle, the CBS bureau chief in Buenos Aires, telling CBS that O'Reilly had become a "disruptive force" who threatened his bureau's morale and cohesion and he was sent home, Engberg wrote.