Bill O Reilly

The on-screen and behind-scenes feuding between rivals Fox News and MSNBC, which has erupted in recent months like two kids squabbling, has gotten so loud that their parents are trying to tell them to knock it off. Rupert Murdoch, chairman and chief executive of News Corp., which owns Fox News, and Jeffrey Immelt, chief executive of General Electric Co., which owns MSNBC, met up at the Microsoft CEO summit in Redmond, Wash.

Are you tired of hearing the cable news blowhards toot their own horns? Were you expecting that after the November election, the news networks would stop obsessing over endless ratings spin and maybe encourage the hosts -- who are, after all, supposed to be discussing issues of national import -- to do something besides beat their own chests? Good luck with that.

Re "Dream big," editorial, Jan. 1 I enjoyed your somewhat tongue-in-cheek editorial about your editors' 2009 wishes until I got to your penultimate wish about silencing Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Ann Coulter and Bill O'Reilly. I am no fan of any of those you seek to muzzle, and am glad to be free to choose not to listen to them. But to have the editorial board of what purports to be a bastion of 1st Amendment integrity, and the country's second-largest city's newspaper of record, make public a wish to silence a group of commentators whose views differ from its own is not humorous.

Popular cable TV host Bill O'Reilly will step down as the host of his syndicated talk radio show early next year, saying he can "no longer give both TV and radio the time they deserve." "The Radio Factor" -- which began in 2002 and runs on more than 400 radio stations, as well as satellite operator Sirius XM Radio Inc. -- will end in the first quarter of 2009, Fox News Channel said. Locally, the show airs weekdays 9-11 a.m. on KABC-AM (790). O'Reilly will continue hosting "The O'Reilly Factor" on the Fox News Channel and writing his weekly newspaper column.

Bill O'Reilly, the combative commentator who hosts the most-watched show in cable news, has extended his contract with Fox News for another four years, the network said Wednesday. The host of "The O'Reilly Factor" said he knew that if he retired, "my friends in the elite media would miss me greatly." O'Reilly will be making more than $10 million a year under his new contract, according to the Washington Post. For almost eight years, his bellicose manner and blunt style have made "The O'Reilly Factor" the most popular show in cable news.

Re "Focus remains on Rev. Wright," May 1 Until the day of California's primary election in February, my support went to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. I changed my vote to Sen. Barack Obama, mainly because I didn't like the direction Clinton's campaign was headed or how she was presenting herself. Knowing that she appeared on "The O'Reilly Factor" and what she said in that interview, two thoughts come to mind. First, why would she ever validate Bill O'Reilly by appearing on his show?