In late February, conservative Fox News host Bill O’Reilly sent a camera crew to the massive protests that had erupted in Wisconsin, the Midwestern state that became emblematic of nationwide outcry against an agenda of austerity, privatization and union busting.
Launching a segment that portrayed demonstrating schoolteachers, public employees and their supporters as offensive and aggressive, O’Reilly introduced his on-the-scene reporter as someone who had ‘experienced pro-union anger first hand’. As the two discussed the ostensibly disrespectful dissidents in Madison, the state’s largest city, scenes of crowds chanting inside the State Capitol rolled onscreen. These were followed by an outdoor shot of a belligerent, thick-necked union member shoving a counter-protester.
