Via Carl Bialik, The Wall Street Journal‘s Numbers Guy: Indiana University assistant professor of journalism Mike Conway has released a report calculating the number of times Bill O’Reilly used name-calling and other so-called “propaganda techniques” on his show. The data were gathered by volunteers who catalogued 105 episodes of O’Reilly’s two-minute “Talking Points Memo,” tallying the use of seven rhetorical techniques identified as “elements of propaganda” by the now-defunct Institute for Propaganda Analysis. The results were then compared with those of Father Charles Coughlin, an anti-communist and antisemitic radio personality in the 1930s. The outcome? O’Reilly beat him by a mile.
O’Reilly and Fox News in turn criticized the study’s methodology, arguing that the “insult count” included too-broad words like “left,” “right,” “traditional” and “centrist.” Meanwhile, Conway defends his work, pointing out that O’Reilly’s words are only counted as name-calling if the context supports that classification — if the word “left” is said, e.g., within the phrase “Kool-Aid left.” Even so, counters Fox, one use of the phrase “Kool-Aid left” was counted as two separate name-calling instances, thereby upping the tally considerably. Bialik has a full summary of the debate; it’s worth a read.
and 
. You can also watch it on 
Someone should do this study for Daily Kos too.
Someone should do this study for Daily Kos too.
I’m sorry, what does this have to do with freakonomics? There are plenty of political blogs out there. While I’ve enjoyed her commentary thus far, I hope our new Huff Puff transport doesn’t turn this into one of those.
I’m sorry, what does this have to do with freakonomics? There are plenty of political blogs out there. While I’ve enjoyed her commentary thus far, I hope our new Huff Puff transport doesn’t turn this into one of those.
So if “Kool-Aid left” is counted as one name-calling instance instead of two, will Bill O’Reilly beat Father Charles Coughlin by only a kilometer?
So if “Kool-Aid left” is counted as one name-calling instance instead of two, will Bill O’Reilly beat Father Charles Coughlin by only a kilometer?
The poll didn’t count when I called Bill O’Reilly a dick while watching the show did it? If so, I may have really screwed up the results.
The poll didn’t count when I called Bill O’Reilly a dick while watching the show did it? If so, I may have really screwed up the results.