In a new mystery novel titled “Those Who Trespass,” top-level TV types are dropping faster than you can say, “What size is your ego?” First, an obnoxious correspondent for a CNN-style news organization is brutally murdered, then a heartless cable-channel executive gets whacked. Next, it’s an unscrupulous consultant, and, finally, a sleazebag news director. All brutally slain by someone with a really big grudge.
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The author is Bill O’Reilly, a former network newsman who crossed over into tabloid TV and hosted “Inside Edition” for six years, then crossed back to run his own show, “The O’Reilly Factor,” on Fox News Channel.
The novel’s prime suspect, a news anchor in exile, bears a close resemblance to O’Reilly. But so does the hero, a tough New York cop. It’s a tidy analogy to the author’s own career, at least for anyone who distinguishes between the “dark side” of TV journalism and the “legitimate” side.
O’Reilly said he pays no attention to the distinction, but it doesn’t mean others in the industry share his blind spot. Faced with the prospect of signing another three-year contract on “Inside Edition,” O’Reilly balked, fearing he’d forever be known as “Mr. `Inside Edition.’ “
Too, he thinks the existence of such syndicated info-tainment shows is being endangered by the proliferation of network newsmagazines.
“I said `Dateline (NBC)’ is doing exactly what we do,” O’Reilly said, “and they’re doing it better because they’ve got more money, more experience and they promote it better.”
In 1995, O’Reilly had six months to kill after leaving “Inside Edition” and before pursuing a master’s degree at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. So he wrote the book.
It sat on the shelf while he was at Harvard, but now it’s in print (Bancroft Press, $24) and he’s happy to talk about its exploration of the truly icky side of high-stakes TV journalism.
Aside from the murders, “it all happened,” O’Reilly said of the stuff that takes place in his novel. Not necessarily to him, but to people he knows. And it’s not pretty. From “bigfooting” — the practice of taking another reporter’s work and passing it off as one’s own — to falsifying research data in order to support an anchor’s dismissal, it’s all very real, O’Reilly said.
The names have been changed, of course, but O’Reilly said no one in the industry has suggested to him that he’s engaging in flights of fancy.
“They know better than that,” he laughed.
O’Reilly’s next book: The world of syndicated talk shows.