William James "Bill" O'Reilly, Jr. is an American television host, author, syndicated columnist and political commentator. He is the host of the political commentary program The O'Reilly Factor on the Fox News Channel. During the late 1970s and 1980s, he worked as a news reporter for various local television stations in the United States and eventually for CBS News and ABC News. From 1989 to 1995, he was anchor of the entertainment news program Inside Edition.
O'Reilly is widely considered a conservative commentator, though some of his positions diverge from conservative orthodoxy. O'Reilly is a registered "Independent" and characterizes himself as a "traditionalist". O'Reilly is the author of ten books, and hosted The Radio Factor until early 2009.