Media Shut Out of O'Reilly Speech to Values Voter Summit; Blogger Mike Stark Forcibly Removed

Posted by Adele Stan, AlterNet at 4:15 PM on September 18, 2009.

Bill O'Reilly, the FOX NewsChannel host, is speaking to the Values Voter Summit as I write this. But I'm not allowed in the room. The problem is my "Media" tag.

I was stopped at the door by the summit's security men, told with no advance notice that the press was banned from O'Reilly's remarks. The order came from O'Reilly's people, the security man said. As if to make his point, a progressive blogger was then hauled from the room where the main event was staged.

Here's all I got to see of O'Reilly's performance:

Minutes after O'Reilly began his speech, blogger Mike Stark made a very noisy exit from the ballroom where O'Reilly, if the applause seeping through the otherwise soundproof doors is any indication, is dazzling his audience. Stark was hauled off by hotel security and shoved into an exit stairwell. He hasn't been heard from since.

Stark has made his mark dogging right-wing television and radio hosts by calling into their shows and challenging them for things they have said.

Tagged as: media, bill o'reilly, fox news, media blackout, press blackout

Adele M. Stan is AlterNet's Washington bureau chief.