Two things puzzle me about the “O’Reilly Factor” show this week.

First, why doesn’t Fox News keep the clips live and accessible, whether free or paid, with nice clear links for people like me to include in their blogs and newsletters and such? I can’t send you to view the show! (If I missing something – by no means impossible – please please tell me.)

And I’ve been thinking about the line-up of people they found for the person-on-the-street interviews. They looked like the usual Great Barrington Main Street crowd: the grubby teenager, the chubby upbeat New Ager, the city couple in their plaid country jackets. No surprise that Berkshire’s own Marcy Ross managed to get in on the action, having an unbelievable instinct for media and celebrity events (a talent we haven’t found a way to make much use of in encyclopedia publishing, I’m sorry to say). But how did they manage to open with George Beebe, an articulate local conservative and without question the single best person in town to say what the O’Reilly Factor wanted to hear? Is it possible that he, of all people, just happened to stroll down Main Street at the right moment? Or could the producers have called around to get his name, and invited him to come downtown for that off-the-cuff interview? Don’t journalistic ethics demand that they make this clear?