William James O'Reilly Jr. (born September 10, 1949) is an American journalist, author, and former television host. During the late 1970s and 1980s, he reported for local television stations in the United States and later for CBS News and ABC News. He anchored the tabloid television program Inside Edition from 1989 to 1995. In 1996, O'Reilly joined the Fox News Channel and hosted The O'Reilly Factor until 2017. The O'Reilly Factor was the highest-rated cable news show for 16 years and he was described by media analyst Howard Kurtz as "the biggest star in the 20 year history at Fox News" at the time of his departure. He is the author of several books and hosted The Radio Factor (2002–2009). Since 2017, he has hosted the No Spin News podcast, which he founded after being fired from Fox.
O'Reilly's media career took a major blow after various New York Times investigations revealed that he had paid half a dozen women nearly $50 million to settle various sexual harassment lawsuits. After the first New York Times investigation revealed that O'Reilly and Fox News had settled five sexual harassment lawsuits totaling $13 million, Fox News terminated O'Reilly's employment in April 2017. In October 2017, The New York Times reported an additional settlement of $32 million that O'Reilly had paid to settle a sixth sexual harassment lawsuit, which had been filed against him by former Fox News analyst Lis Wiehl because of the "non-consensual sexual relationship" she says O'Reilly initiated with her. The revelation of this sixth settlement caused O'Reilly to be dropped by the United Talent Agency.