Fox News host Bill O’Reilly says feminists should not report on Donald Trump

Mr O’Reilly argued that Mr Trump is the ‘antithesis’ of feminism

Mr O'Reilly insisted that feminist reporters have an 'agenda' and there could be a 'margin of error' in their work (Getty)

Fox news presenter Bill O’Reilly has demanded that women journalists who believe in equal rights should not be allowed to report on presidential candidate Donald Trump.

While interviewing Washington Post associate editor Bob Woodward, Mr O’Reilly argued that since Mr Trump is a “purveyor” of beauty pageants, any feminist reporter would let her personal feelings get in the way of her reporting.

Mr Woodward, whose investigative journalism brought down the Richard Nixon government, replied: “Somebody is a conservative or a liberal, that doesn't mean they can't report. As we learn over the decades, the best reporters may have feelings and personal conclusions, and they can edit those and filter those things out.”

Mr O’Reilly said the public is “not that smart” to do that and pressed his interviewee on the example of a New York Times article, “Crossing the Line: How Donald Trump Behaved With Women in Private”, written by Michael Barbaro and Megan Twohey.

“Mr Barbaro has written a number of anti-Trump tweets, which should have disqualified him from writing about Donald Trump. Ms Twohey is an excellent reporter with a great resume, but she is a feminist,” he said.

One of the women in the New York Times article, Rowanne Brewer, later said that her words were accurately quoted but were not presented in a way that captured her tone.

“If I'm an editor and I know there is a feminist woman in my newsroom, who is brilliant because I think this woman is an excellent reporter, I don't let her report on a guy like Trump because Trump is the antithesis of that,” Mr O'Reilly said to Mr Woodward. “And so I don't want any margin of error here, there are plenty of reporters who can do the story, do you not see that?”

Mr Woodward responded that he did not agree.

“There are feminists on the left and the right as you know, and somebody can put their personal feelings and conclusions in their back pocket and keep them there.”

Mr Trump has come under fire numerous times for his treatment of women and his disparaging comments about them, including “dogs”, “pigs” and “bimbos”.