O'Reilly: Most loved and most hated journalist

Half the names appear on both the lists. And most of those polled wouldn't respond.

America's Favorite Campaign Journalists

As the Pew Research Center's Weekly News Interest Index has shown, the public followed news about the 2008 presidential campaign more closely than any presidential election in the past 20 years. Americans relied primarily on television news for information about the campaign, and cable TV was the dominant medium1.


When asked to name their favorite and least favorite campaign journalist or commentator, Bill O'Reilly was named most frequently as the favorite -- and as the least favorite. O'Reilly was named by 5% as their favorite journalist or commentator, while 3% each named Tom Brokaw and Sean Hannity. However, fully half could not name anyone as their favorite.

When asked to name their least favorite journalist or news commentator who covered the campaign this year, 60% offered no response. Among those who did name someone, O'Reilly also topped the list (6%). Katie Couric of CBS News was named by 5% of the public as their least favorite campaign journalist. In addition, 3% named each of the following: the Fox News Channel, Rush Limbaugh, Keith Olbermann, and Sean Hannity

Then they came for O'Reilly

So this is what politics in the U.S. has become

Just days after publishing U.S. vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin's personal email messages, the Wikileaks Web site has published data about members who signed up for a section of Fox Television host Bill O'Reilly's Web site.

Hackers were able to obtain a list of Billoreilly.com premium members, including email addresses, site passwords and the city and state where they live. Some of the information was published Friday on Wikileaks.com, which has been under fire from conservative commentators, including O'Reilly, for publishing Palin's messages.

"Wikileaks has been informed the hack was a response to the pundit's recent scurrilous attacks over the Sarah Palin's email story -- including on Wikileaks and other members of the press," Wikileaks said on its site. "Hacktivists, thumbing their noses at the pundit, took control of O'Reilly's main site, Billoreilly.com."

Premium members pay US$49.95 per year to access special content on the Web site, including discussion boards. Operators of Billoreilly.com could not be reached for comment Friday afternoon, and IDG News Service could not immediately confirm whether the list was legitimate.

Wired has more, including a lot of background on comments O'Reilly has made this week that may have angered the Wikileaks community.