Clash, journalist and anti-journalist...

Bill O'Reilly clashes with Jorge Ramos

By Nick Gass

Bill O'Reilly sparred with Jorge Ramos on Wednesday night over whether the Univision newsman is a reporter, with the Fox News host repeatedly calling his guest an "activist" and suggesting that he should take up commentating and give up on the notion of being a journalist.

Arguing over the effectiveness of a border wall, the two also clashed over O'Reilly's proposed "Kate's Law," which would bar convicted felons who have been deported from the United States from ever returning. The proposal came about after the murder of San Francisco woman Kate Steinle earlier this year at the hands of a repeat felon who had been deported five separate times.

Ramos said he was not defending the criminals but that it would not be a good idea to punish those who return across the border. O'Reilly shot back, calling him an "enabler" of felons, suggesting that he is enabling people like Steinle's alleged killer.

"You want to criminalize a whole community for a crime that only one person did," Ramos countered.

Ramos, who made headlines last month with his confrontation of Republican candidate Donald Trump over his deportation proposal, has repeatedly defended his line of questioning as legitimate.
"You're an anchorman. How can you possibly cover illegal immigration fairly when you are an activist — you're a proponent of allowing them amnesty? How can you possibly cover the story? You should excuse yourself from it or recuse yourself from it. Or become like me, a commentator," O'Reilly suggested.

"I'm just a reporter," Ramos responded.

"You're not!" O'Reilly interjected. "You're an activist," the host said.

Ramos continued to dispute O'Reilly's assertions, telling him that he did not think the Fox News host is "the right person to lecture me on advocacy and journalism."

"I'm a commentator. That's what I do," O'Reilly said.

The job of a journalist, he said, is to ask questions and to challenge those in power.

"Jorge, you're doing exactly what I'm doing, man. You just don't have the title," O'Reilly concluded.