War tapes released in US news host row

CBS News has released video from four stories it aired about the Falklands War in 1982, all part of a dispute involving Fox News Channel host Bill O’Reilly and his subsequent statements about covering the war.

None of the stories mentions O’Reilly, then a young CBS reporter, or makes any specific reference to a CBS crew member being hurt.

It was prompted by a Mother Jones article last week calling into question O’Reilly’s claims he reported in a “war zone” or “combat zone” during the conflict between Britain and Argentina. Few reporters made it to the front of the war, 1,000 miles from the Argentine capital of Buenos Aires.

O’Reilly has said that he covered an anti-government demonstration in Buenos Aires that turned violent and that a photographer he was working with was knocked to the ground and was bleeding. Describing the events two years ago, O’Reilly said he “dragged off” the photographer from danger.

Former CBS News correspondent Eric Engberg, who also was covering the event, described O’Reilly’s account as “dishonest” and “completely nutty” during a Huffington Post interview. Engberg said none of the camera operators working the night in question remembers any colleague being injured. The camera person who was said to be hurt has not spoken publicly about the matter.

An Associated Press account of the demonstration said police officers charged a group of about 50 journalists, beating some and trampling others. “Two news photographers were reported injured by rubber bullets fired by police,” said the June 16, 1982, account by AP writer Douglas Grant Mine.

The release of the videos, while providing more detail about the situation O’Reilly faced 33 years ago, did not resolve the issue of whether his recollections are factual.

In addition to his work at Fox, O’Reilly has become a force in the publishing industry with a series of books on the deaths of historical figures like Abraham Lincoln and Jesus Christ.

O’Reilly, on his programme Monday night, showed portions of the CBS video and said it proved the event was no “walk in the park”. He interviewed Don Browne, a former NBC News Miami bureau chief who supervised the network’s Falklands coverage, who also described the situation.

The Mother Jones piece was printed shortly after NBC News anchor Brian Williams was suspended for misrepresenting his experiences in the Iraq War.

O’Reilly, long the most popular prime-time figure in cable news, has called the piece a political hit job.

Fox News CEO Roger Ailes has said he fully supports O’Reilly.

The 65-year-old anchor — who earlier dismissed the Mother Jones article as “total bullshit”, “disgusting” and “defamation” ” — had said the archive tapes would comprehensively disprove the charges against him.