O'Reilly wins Distinguished Alumni Award

By Andrew Cannarsa, COM '05

Bill O’Reilly, news analyst, best-selling author and host of FOX News’ “The O’Reilly Factor,” returned to Boston University on Dec. 7 to receive a Distinguished Alumni Award.

Captivated BU students, alumni and faculty listened as the master of the “no spin zone” discussed his rise from a small town features editor to national headliner in the world of cable news. Humorous, lively, and assertive, O’Reilly said the award humbled him.

“I never thought that I would be honored by Boston University,” O’Reilly told the audience. “It never entered my mind.”

What did enter his mind at a tender age was his goal to reach the top in broadcast journalism.“I told my father very early on that I wanted to be a national journalist,” O’Reilly told the standing-room-only crowd, many of them aspiring journalists.

Beginning his career in Scranton, Penn., O’Reilly progressed through Dallas, Denver, Hartford and Boston, landing in New York City within five years of starting in the business professionally.

“Whatever you do, there is always a way to do that job better, so that you can go to a better job,” he told students. “I figured out how to do a job better than anyone else.”

After working as an anchor on ABC’s Inside Edition for six years, O’Reilly was admitted to the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard. He earned a master’s degree in public policy and had time to reflect on broadcast news, deciding that news analysis would soon replace simple news reporting. Knowing that network news programs shied away from stimulating debate that was too politically sensitive, O’Reilly developed “The O’Reilly Factor,” a program he vowed would sift through the spins and lies of politicians and public servants and uncover the truths of controversial issues.

“I always knew the show would be successful,” O’Reilly maintained. Nearly four million viewers tune into O’Reilly every night, and the number of FOX News’ subscribers has increased from 15 million to 80 million since the program’s inception five years ago. Not only is “The O’Reilly Factor” a ratings hit, but O’Reilly’s book, “The No Spin Zone,” is Number One on The New York Times best seller list.

During a question period after his talk, one student asked O’Reilly what his own undergraduate days had been like. “BU was a mixed bag for me,” he replied. He said that while he appreciated the city and took full advantage of writing for the university’s independent newspaper, The Daily Free Press, the School of Public Communication was not as developed as it is now. Too many professors preached communication theory rather than the specifics needed to succeed in the news profession, he contended.

With a bow to his host, O’Reilly called Dean Brent Baker a “genius,” saying he was doing great things at the College of Communication these days.

O’Reilly was also asked what makes him proudest in his professional history.
He replied that it was making it to the top on his own, without connections, short cuts or rich relatives.

After Dean Baker presented him with the Distinguished Alumni Award, O’Reilly offered some final advice: “If you are honest, work hard and try to help others when you can, then good things will happen to you. Life is full of little surprises.”