Bill: Is it your opinion that NBC news spins the war in Iraq negative?
Laura: Well, it's not between me and NBC, Bill.
Bill: Look, you're an analyst. You watch these people. Is it your opinion that NBC news spins the war negative?
Laura: I think that the coverage of the war by NBC that I have really focused on, especially since I was in Iraq last month, to me it seems bizarrely focused only on the I.E.D.'s, only on the latest reprisal killings that are taking place. When stories that are so fascinating and interesting and broader and human interest, stuff the "Today" show and NBC likes to do, those stories are out there for anyone to get. I don't get it.
O’Reilly then made a very bold castigation of NBC:
Bill: I don't pretend to know what they do over there, but I have said on the record that I think NBC is the most anti-Bush network right now, more than ABC, CNN, and CBS.
Laura: They seem invested right now.
Bill: I don't know if that's true. It just seems to me that way.
Laura: Well, it seems to me. Again, it's not hard to get these stories.
As this segment concluded, O’Reilly made an even bolder claim about the media:
Bill: Here's my problem. And this is a serious problem. We saw it at the top of the show with what's her name who was bantering with Bush, the older woman, Helen Thomas. I believe that there is a segment of the media trying to undermine the policy in Iraq for their own ideological purposes. It is no longer dissent, it’s no longer skepticism. It's “we want to undermine it,” and that disturbs me. Do you see that?
Laura: I see that pretty much every day, that there is a group of people who are invested in America's defeat, in one of the most important conflicts in our nation's history. And being invested in defeat as an American -- I don't care if you're a reporter, a commentator or a businessperson. How have we gotten to this point in this country? Regardless of what people think of Bush…
Bill: Because of hatred. Ideological hatred brings us to that point. Last question: Is NBC in that category? Do you think NBC news is actively trying to undermine the war in Iraq?
Laura: You know, I'm going to keep watching it. You know, I know there are brave people. David Bloom was over there covering the war when he died practically.
Bill: So you don’t know whether they are or not?
Laura: I don’t know. I think the media obviously has an element underneath it that really despises Bush and it's blinding them.
Bill: Alright. I think you're absolutely right on that. I think there is an element in the media that has gone way beyond dissent and into actually undermining American policy in the war on terror, and it's frightening.
