O'Reilly, Bill (1942–)

William James “Bill” O'Reilly, Jr., is a journalist, commentator, television personality, syndicated columnist, radio host, and author. He is best known as the host of the cable news program The O'Reilly Factor on the Fox News Channel, which ranked as the top program among U.S. cable news channels from 2003 to 2006.

After his 1967 graduation from Chaminade High School in Mineola, New York, O'Reilly attended Marist College in Poughkeepsie, New York. While at Marist College, he wrote a column for the college newspaper, The Circle, and played football. O'Reilly also studied overseas at the University of London during his junior year of college. In 1971, O'Reilly received a bachelor's degree in history from Marist College. He returned to college and received a Master of Arts in broadcast journalism from Boston University after teaching high school for two years at Monsignor Pace in the Miami, Florida, area. While at Boston University, O'Reilly worked as a reporter and columnist for local newspapers and news weeklies.

O'Reilly's broadcasting career began at WNEP-TV in Scranton, Pennsylvania, where he was a reporter and anchor. He then moved to WFAA-TV in Dallas, Texas, where he won a Dallas Press Club Award for excellence in investigative reporting. He also worked at KMGHTV in Denver, Colorado, and won an Emmy for his coverage of a skyjacking. Two years later, O'Reilly returned to the East Coast to report for WFSB-TV in Hartford, Connecticut.

While at WCBS-TV in New York City, O'Reilly won his second Emmy in 1980 for coverage of corrupt city marshals. He was then promoted to CBS News as a correspondent and covered the conflicts in El Salvador and the Falkland Islands from his base in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Additionally, O'Reilly served as an anchor on ABC and CBS television news affiliates in Boston and an anchor at KATU-TV in Portland, Oregon. He became an ABC News correspondent on ABC World News Tonight in 1986, where he won a National Headliner Award for excellence in reporting for a series of reports on the Bradley fighting vehicle.

From 1989 to 1995, O'Reilly reported and anchored the syndicated news program Inside Edition on CBS. During his broadcast news career, O'Reilly reported from all over the world, including Vietnam, Kuwait, Germany, Brazil, Australia, Japan, France, Romania, and England. In addition, he wrote an opinion column in the Boston Herald for 7 years, and his articles have appeared in publications such as Newsweek magazine, The New York Times, and Parade magazine.

He returned to college after his tenure on Inside Edition to receive a master's degree in public administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. After his graduation from Harvard in 1996, O'Reilly began working for the startup cable news channel Fox News. His show, The O'Reilly Factor, is a news analysis, commentary, and investigative reporting program that is broadcast in more than 30 countries. The O'Reilly Factor has largely been the number-one cable news program since its creation.

O'Reilly is also a best-selling author. His first novel was Those Who Trespass: A Novel of Murder and Television. O'Reilly has also written three adult nonfiction books that have each topped the New York Times best-seller list, The O'Reilly Factor, The No Spin Zone, and Who's Looking Out for You. His book for children, The O'Reilly Factor for Kids, was the best-selling nonfiction children's book of 2005. His most recent book is Culture Warrior, which was published in 2006.

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