William James O'Reilly, Jr. (born September 10, 1949), known as Bill O'Reilly, is an American television host, author, historian, journalist,  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 news magazine program Inside Edition.