THE FOX FACTOR.(Bill O'Reilly interviewed)(Brief Article)(Interview)

Almost a million television viewers tune to the Fox News Channel just to see Bill O'Reilly on "The O'Reilly Factor." And for more than four months, The O'Reilly Factor: The Good, the Bad, and the Completely Ridiculous in American Life has been at the top of best-seller lists. TAE's John Meroney recently checked in with the hottest man in TV news:

TAE: Fox News Channel's slogan is "fair and balanced." What does that mean on "The O'Reilly Factor"?

O'REILLY: I basically play devil's advocate. If I'm convinced somebody's argument is correct, I'll say it. As a news analyst, I have that latitude. But "fair and balanced" means if we're covering the Elian Gonzalez story, we're going to give as much credibility to the family's side as to the side of the establishment. What happened to journalism over the last ten years is that journalists became the establishment. TV networks are the establishment; so they tilt toward that side. At Fox, when a story breaks, we try to tell all sides.

TAE: But you were one of the broadcasters most critical of the Clinton administration.

O'REILLY: Any broadcaster who wasn't critical of the Clinton administration wasn't doing his job. Even if the Clintons didn't break the law, they walked the ethical line all the time. Now that George W. Bush is President, if he does the same thing, I'm going to be all over him.

TAE: Are you a conservative?

O'REILLY: I'm independent. Look, I'm against the death penalty, and I also believe in big government intervention to protect the environment. I guess those two issues alone divorce me from the Right.