Accusations put O'Reilly in precarious position

Bill O'Reilly is no stranger to controversy. The syndicated talk radio host and star of Fox News Channel's prime-time lineup engaged in a heated debate about the Iraq war with "Fahrenheit 9/11" director Michael Moore during the Democratic National Convention. In the recent documentary "Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism," O'Reilly is depicted as a bully of the airwaves, berating those who disagree with him. His nasty feud with comedian Al Franken led to a lawsuit over the title of Franken's book, "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right."

Now, however, the salacious details of a sexual harassment lawsuit against him are reverberating in the media echo chamber of the Internet and cable television. O'Reilly is facing the kind of publicity that some analysts suggest could be professionally dangerous to someone who, in the words of Talkers magazine publisher Michael Harrison, "has forged a tremendously successful talk-media career."

"He's this guy who set himself up as the bastion of moral taste," said Robert Thompson, director of Syracuse University's Center for the Study of Popular Television. "A story like this would help Paris Hilton's career. This is so totally against what his identity is about. The question is going to be how much traction this is going to get."

In the past few days, there has been a good deal of media interest in the nasty exchange of allegations involving one of the biggest names in the punditocracy, a man who, by dint of his outspokenness, is a polarizing figure. In a Globe interview several years ago, O'Reilly described his role this way: "I look at the news of the day and I figure out what's more relevant to people, and I try to bring out the real truth of the story."

O'Reilly filed suit Wednesday against a Fox News Channel associate producer and her attorney, alleging that they were trying to extort $60 million by threatening to sue him and demanding hush money. The employee, Andrea Mackris, 33, countered the same day with a sexual harassment suit that goes into sexually explicit detail about fantasies and behavior she attributed to the television and radio star.

Addressing the nature of the charges against O'Reilly, Thompson noted that "it is going to be really hard for him to go into one of his rants about Janet Jackson's Super Bowl" performance.

O'Reilly addressed the issue briefly Wednesday during "The O'Reilly Factor," saying the suit "is all about hurting me and the Fox News Channel." Appearing on "Live With Regis and Kelly" yesterday to promote his children's book, O'Reilly said he'd been repeatedly threatened with lawsuits and bodily harm over the past few years. He said he knew that by filing his lawsuit he could perhaps ruin his career. Mackris, who started working for O'Reilly in April 2000, said yesterday on ABC's "Good Morning America" that she took his actions and statements as a personal threat.

"The O'Reilly Factor," which features the host commenting and conducting interviews on the issues of the day, attracts about 2.5 million viewers nightly. A Fox News spokeswoman said the outlet is being inundated by messages of support running 10 to 1 in O'Reilly's favor. She said there are no plans to suspend or alter "The O'Reilly Factor."

But the vote of confidence was not quite so ringing from Matt Mills, general manager of Greater Media, which operates WTKK-FM (96.9), the Boston home of O'Reilly's radio program. Though Mills said the lawsuit will not change the station's carriage of O'Reilly's show at this point, he said that "if we see that it's going to impact his impact on our radio station, we would certainly make some changes. Obviously, it all depends on what comes out of it."

While acknowledging that he is not passing judgment on the claims of either O'Reilly or his accuser, Harrison said the case highlights a new reality. "We are in a new era of the very high-profile controversial political commentator," he said. "It is very dangerous to be a high-profile political talk show host on radio and television. . . . Anyone who sets themselves up as being the voice of morality sets themselves up for attacks."

Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.