Bill O’Reilly didn’t “have a beef” with the way MSNBC handled last week‘s Mitt Romney-KKK comparison, specifically that Chris Matthews came on the air several hours after the “irresponsible and incendiary” story, to apologize to the Romney campaign. But Bernie Goldberg sure did. During his weekly segment last night on “The Factor” Goldberg blamed the “chuckle-head anchor and his brain-dead producer” for incorporating the story into the show and further blamed the management of MSNBC who “created the atmosphere over many years, that allowed this kind of thing to happen.”

MSNBC has been on the receiving end of criticism for its post-debate programming–programming which was completely devoid of any Republican analysts (Update: Steve Schmidt and Michael Steele did contribute to the programming, although did not co-host the program). Last night on “The O’Reilly Factor,” host Bill O’Reilly and guest Bernie Goldberg attempted to argue that even the questions asked by moderator Brian Williams revealed a nefarious bias on the part of NBC:

Putting aside the programming before and after the debate, what did you think about the debate itself? Were the questions and handling fair to the candidates?

The departure of Keith Olbermann from MSNBC Friday night sent shock-waves through the TV business, and it seems like just about everyone with their own show opted to weigh in on the matter last night.

Olbermann’s Fox News competitor, Bill O’Reilly, discussed the matter with Bernie Goldberg, without ever mentioning the MSNBC host by name:

On MSNBC, both Lawrence O’Donnell and Rachel Maddow paid tribute to their former colleague:

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MSNBC’s “Countdown with Keith Olbermann” usually ends with the host saying “That’s [insert date], good night, and good luck,” a reference to Edward R. Murrow‘s sign-off. Over the years, Olbermann has also added commentaries noting the days since the start of the Iraq war, and earlier this year the Gulf oil spill.

Last night, Olbermann changed the sign-off once again, saying:

“That’s November 3rd, one day since Republicans took control of the House. Mr. Boehner, where are the jobs? I’m Keith Olbermann, good night, and good luck.”

Of course, Republicans won’t actually assume control of the House until January, but who’s counting?

Meanwhile, on Fox News Channel, Olbermann’s 8 PM competition Bill O’Reilly speculated about upcoming adjustments at MSNBC. O’Reilly was speaking to Dick Morris Bernie Goldberg, and the two spent a good deal of time bashing MSNBC’s election coverage:

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“George W. Bush and Dick Cheney are long gone,” writes the NY Times‘ Brian Stelter. “Fox News Channel is Jon Stewart‘s new enemy No. 1.”

Stelter says that in 2010, Stewart has devoted 24 segments to FNC, compared to five segments on CNN. He writes:

Combining the earnestness of a journalism professor and the sarcasm of a satirist, Mr. Stewart routinely charges that Fox’s news anchors and commentators distort Mr. Obama’s policies and advance a conservative agenda…It is true that the often-left-leaning “Daily Show” deals with a wide array of topics, but Fox is one that Mr. Stewart is overtly passionate about…

Both The Daily Show and FNC declined to comment for the story.

• Earlier: ‘Daily Show’ Criticizes Megyn Kelly, ‘America Live’

Megyn Kelly: ‘I Really Enjoy Jon Stewart, Except When He Goes After Me’

Jon Stewart Responds to Bernie Goldberg

It began last week, when Jon Stewart told Fox News analyst Bernie Goldberg to “go f**k” himself, over the coverage of — and the coverage of the coverage of — last weeks tea parties.

Then it continued Monday on “The O’Reilly Factor” when Goldberg called Stewart, “a safe Jay Leno with a much smaller audience.”

Well, last night Stewart apologized to Goldberg, but he says he was just being critical because Fox News is “a terrible, cynical, disingenuous news organization.”

> More: Goldberg fired back on Megyn Kelly‘s show today: “Come on Jon, man up. Man the hell up, as a matter of fact. You can’t criticize us at Fox for generalizing about liberals and then you do the same thing, or ignore it when it happens, and then say, ‘I’m not a newsman.’ I’m not buying that for a second.”

Bill O’Reilly called out The New York Times, The Washington Post, Time, Newsweek, and CNN over some of their coverage of the Ft. Hood massacre — which, in O’Reilly’s view, blamed the wars instead of the killer, Nidal Malik Hasan, for the rampage. “The guy is either a Muslim terrorist or a crazy person. That’s it. Those are the choices,” said O’Reilly of Hasan.

“We did 5 million viewers at 8 O’Clock, wiped out CNN and MSNBC, wiped them off the face of the earth. The guard has changed in this country. The media guard has changed. And you know why people came in here, because they knew they were going to get an honest story. They weren’t going to get spin that Hasan is some kind of post-traumatic syndrome victim. Some kind of victim of a terrible public policy gone awry. They’re not going to get that….. I almost said a bad word. They’re not going to get that garbage here.”

O’Reilly’s guest Bernie Goldberg also gave a new name to the mainstream media:

> FNC’s Bill O’Reilly discusses polarization in the news media with Bernie Goldberg.

> MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann responds to Campbell Brown‘s remarks about his network in the “Best Persons” segment.

> ABC’s Diane Sawyer uses a clip from Glenn Beck in her interview with Al Gore on “GMA.”

> ABC’s John Berman explains his various “news costumes.” To: John. Thank you for not “dressing for the story” at that swinger’s resort. From: Everyone.

Video Wall* below:

*What MTV would look like now if it were still MTV.

> Jon Stewart mocked Sean Hannity‘s coverage of the California farmers’ drought on “The Daily Show” last night in a segment titled, “Where the Riled Things Are.”

> Filling in on “Countdown,” David Shuster criticized Fox News for promoting the “bogus claim that the Obama administration is indoctrinating your kids.”

> On “The O’Reilly Factor,” Bernie Goldberg said of some Fox News hosts: “They don’t cover rallies and tea parties, they cheerlead for rallies and tea parties, and as a journalist I’m totally against that.” Clip:

Bill O’Reilly led off tonight with the ratings — his and his colleagues on Fox News, and those of his competitors.

O’Reilly showed a series of full screens explaining their “dominance” including comparing his Total Viewer numbers last Thursday and those of the July average of the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric. O’Reilly added up, then rounded up, his Thursday airings at 8pmET (3.716M) and 11pmET (1.657M), which come up to 5.373M. Couric’s average from June 29 – July 31 was actually 5.424M.

But you get Bill’s point.

So, why is Fox News on a tear?

According to O’Reilly, “A major reason is the healthcare debate… When we cover the town hall meetings we don’t describe the protesters as loons. We don’t denigrate people who disagree with Pres. Obama. That’s the difference between FOX News and all the others… The Factor also gives voice to both sides, something you will never see on NBC News.” [And by NBC News, we think he means MSNBC].

Then O’Reilly talked about the ratings with Bernie Goldberg, who isn’t exactly on the other side…

Click continued to see it…

> Update: Forgot to add, it appears this segment would fall under any inter-network agreement since ratings is news…

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