“Fox News Channel is arguably the most powerful news organization in the country — not (just) on cable — because of our exposure in prime time,” Mr. O'Reilly declared.

        In the past year, The O'Reilly Factor has passed CNN's Larry King Live in the Nielsen ratings. The Factor, as he calls it, averaged 1.89 million viewers this month; Larry King averaged 1.28 million.

Bashing Uncle Walter?

        When I looked at last week's ratings, CBS' 60 Minutes drew 19.3 million viewers. Dateline NBC was watched by 13.6 million. And what about the New York Times and Wall Street Journal?

        “Look, I mean, I said "arguably.' You can debate it. I don't think that's an arrogant statement.”

        Mr. O'Reilly was asked about his remark that Walter Cronkite, former CBS anchor and Evening News managing editor, was just “a news reader.”

        “His primary career in television was to read the news,” said Mr. O'Reilly, who calls himself “a news analyst” on his 9 p.m. weekday show.

        When a Denver TV critic pointed out that Mr. Cronkite was a World War II correspondent before joining CBS, Mr. O'Reilly said: “You don't like the term "news reader?' You thought I was denigrating him? All right, you may have a point there. I didn't mean it to be arrogant. I meant it to be descriptive.”

        When the TV writer called the comment “very arrogant,” Mr. O'Reilly replied: “OK, well, listen. You may be right on that. You know, nobody's ever accused me of being understated.”

        Although the network boasts that “we report, you decide,” Mr. O'Reilly explained that his show is not a newscast. “I'm a news analyst. I do what the newspaper op-ed pages do,” he said.

        “My job is to keep an eye on the powerful” through the spirited give-and-take with guests, he said. “We're tough on everybody. Nobody skates. That's what our "No Spin Zone' is all about.

        “I mean, we're shooting from the hip a lot. ... It's fast and furious. It's bang, bang, bang bang.”

No spin allowed

        The Factor is different from other cable news talk shows because he demands that guests answer his questions, he said.

        “You try to be fair. You try to give everybody their say,” he said. “(But) we don't let them spin, which means they get interrupted. So if I ask a question, and then they go off into this (other) area, I stop them.”

        When a Florida TV critic asked about his interview with Sami Al-Arian, the University of South Florida professor fired for his connection to Islamic Jihad terrorists, Mr. O'Reilly explained: “He came on. We had a shoot-out. And he didn't come off well.”

        Another critic asked why Mr. O'Reilly cut off the microphone of an Arab-American group spokesman several days after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

        “We didn't cut off anybody's mike,” he said. When the reporter said he had a transcript of the show, Mr. O'Reilly said: “All right, I'm not remembering that incident. ... But if you watched (Jan. 11), we had a PLO (representative) on, and we don't censor anybody.”

        Three days after making the censorship remark to critics, he cut off the microphone — not once, but twice — of guest Eric Vickers, executive director of the American Muslim Alliance. He told viewers last Tuesday: “That's only the fourth time in 5 1/2 years that I've had to cut off someone's microphone.”

        During his press conference, the former Inside Edition anchor and ABC News correspondent gave his opinion — don't call it “spin” — about:

        • Anchor Paula Zahn protesting about CNN calling her “sexy” in an on-air promotion: “If Paula Zahn doesn't think she's there partially because she's a good-looking babe, then she's in Never Never Land.”

        • Criticizing Tristate native George Clooney for not making sure money raised by a September TV concert reached the Sept. 11 victims' families:

        “Clooney was getting spoon-fed from the United Way. They were telling him stuff that wasn't true and he wasn't checking it out, so he looked like a fool. But I have nothing against him. I think he's a well-intentioned guy.”

Music shoot-out

        For his next Fox network special, The Corruption of the American Child, he talked to rockers Marilyn Manson, Insane Clown Posse and “all of these black rappers. And I just go right after them. I mean, it's a shoot-out!”

        The remark prompted one TV critic, an African-American, to ask: “So Eminem's cool, but black rappers aren't?”

        TV critics also quizzed Mr. O'Reilly about his newest Fox News colleague Geraldo Rivera, who has carried a gun while reporting from Afghanistan:

        “I don't care what Geraldo does. I mean, he's a character. He can do whatever he wants. If he wants to go skeet-shooting in Kabul, that's fine with me.”

        Did Mr. Rivera hurt Fox News credibility by misrepresenting his location when claiming to be near a battle zone?

        “Is he telling you the truth? That's an important question I can't answer,” Mr. O'Reilly said.

        In other words: Geraldo reports; you decide.

        “Here's the deal: If you don't believe it, you (go) watch CNN, or you watch MSNBC,” he said. “If you don't think that there's credibility flowing out of our information dispatches from the war zone, then you watch somebody else. That's the beauty of America.”

Double standard

        Mr. O'Reilly also accused critics of having a double standard. Stories always identify him with “a pejorative adjective in front of my name: "The conservative Bill O'Reilly,' ” he said. (So “conservative” is a pejorative term?) He wanted columnists likewise to identify Bill Moyers and Jeff Greenfield as “liberal.”

        Doesn't he really relish being brandished a conservative, so he could blast the media?

        “What I'm trying to do is get The Factor in front of as many eyeballs as possible. Now, if you attack me, obviously that can help me. But do I like it? No! I want to be treated fairly.”

        After the press conference, I asked him if he'll tell people he had a big shoot-out with TV critics.

        “No, this was OK,” he said. “You guys are OK.”

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