Bill O'Reilly (political commentator): Difference between revisions - Wikipedia

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[[Image:Bill Oreilly.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Bill O'Reilly]]

'''William James "Bill" O'Reilly, Jr.''' (born [[September 10]] [[1949]]) is the host of a popular [[United States|American]] [[cable television]] opinion program, ''[[The O'Reilly Factor]]'' on the [[Fox News|Fox News Channel]]. O'Reilly also hosts a radio program syndicated by [[Westwood One]] called ''[[The Radio Factor]]'' and has authored five best-selling books, one of which is a [[novel]]. Recently, he has voiced concern about what he sees as the harmful influence of [[gangsta rap]] on children, the high level of mismanagement of charity funds for [[September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks]] victims, and what he perceives as [[liberal bias]] of ''[[The New York Times]]'' and many other mainstreamelite media outlets. However, O'Reilly himself is often accused of [[conservative bias]], which he denounces as liberal bias against his centerism.

==Personal background==

O'Reilly was born in [[Manhattan]], [[New York]] to William and Angela O'Reilly, from [[Brooklyn]] and [[Bergen County, New Jersey|Bergen County]], [[New Jersey]] respectively. His father was aninitially oila companybook-keeper then an accountant and his mother was a homemaker. He and his family moved to [[Westbury, New York|Westbury, New York]] when he was a toddler.

After graduating from [[Chaminade High School]] in [[1967]], O'Reilly attended [[Marist College]], a small, co-educational private school in [[Poughkeepsie, New York|Poughkeepsie]], [[New York]]. While at Marist, the 6 ft 4 in (193 cm) O'Reilly played quarterback, place kicker, and punter on the [[American football|football]] team, and also was a columnist and features writer for the school's newspaper, ''The Circle''. [http://library.marist.edu/archives/Circle/circle.html] As an honors student majoring in history, he spent his junior year of college abroad, attending [[Queen Mary, University of London|Queen Mary College]] at the [[University of London]]. [http://library.marist.edu/archives/JLRBelanger.html] He also played semi-professional baseball during this time as a pitcher for the Brooklyn Monarchs, leading him to try out to play for the Mets. O'Reilly received his Bachelor of Arts in [[1971]].