Staff Reports
Bill O’Reilly — host of the No Spin News and Analysis feed and his “We’ll Do It LIVE!” program — sat down with Glenn Beck — host of The Glenn Beck Program and founder of the Torch platform — to answer a question a lot of Americans are asking: can we actually fix media bias in legacy news? They laid out a blunt diagnosis and some big ideas. Some of those ideas make sense. Others need a lot more detail than a podcast guest spot can provide.
Why legacy media keeps losing the public
Beck and O’Reilly hit a basic truth: people don’t trust the “big networks” like they used to. The problems are structural — ownership concentration, booking routines that favor one story line, and editorial cultures that reward outrage. As O’Reilly said on the show, networks “don’t book any meaningful people from the right ever. They just bring in the people who hate Trump. It’s like a hate Trump fest.” That’s blunt, but it explains why viewers tune out or flock to niche outlets that confirm their view.
Booking practices are an easy test — and an easy fix
One of the clearest, most testable claims they made concerns who gets invited onto panels and Sunday shows. If the problem is bad booking, then the fix is simple: diversify the guest list and publish booking rules. Newsrooms can be audited. Producers can be held to guest-diversity metrics. If a show is really balanced, put the receipts online and let the public judge. This isn’t a plot to overthrow journalism; it’s basic transparency. If networks refuse, that tells you all you need to know.
Corporate influence, algorithms and the limits of rhetoric
Beck also pointed at corporate power — advertisers, big entertainment firms, platform algorithms that reward rage — and said the solution isn’t more government. He argued “The only answer to this is not a bigger government. It is to make sure that these corporations and these rich and powerful have no more of a say than the guy who’s voting down the street.” That’s politically appealing, but vague. Shrinking corporate influence would mean antitrust actions, new disclosure rules, or changing ad-market incentives. None of that happens overnight. Still, pushing independent platforms and holding media owners to transparency would be a practical start, not some utopian fantasy.
Civic education, alternative platforms, and a plain roadmap
Finally, Beck and O’Reilly argued for rebuilding a common civic story through better history education and cultural work. That’s a long game, but a necessary one. Short of rewriting curricula, conservatives can support local journalism, fund media-literacy programs, and create more independent outlets that play by clear rules. Start small: demand transparency in booking, push for measurable guest diversity, back local news, and support alternative platforms that put facts over outrage. Do that, and the next time someone complains about “media bias,” they’ll have a list of fixes — not just a rant.
