BILL O'REILLY (HOST): So, were you surprised to do see last night, NBC News anchorman Lester Holt, good guy, at the Trump Tower, broadcasting at the Trump Tower?



BERNARD GOLDBERG: Well, surprised, not in the sense of the reason, I think was because it was a ploy for ratings, so I'm not surprised by that. If you tie yourself to Donald Trump in any way, it's good for ratings. Now, look, I wouldn't suggest that any news organization anchor an entire news program from the lobby of a building of someone running for President of the United States. But, there are far worse things going on in journalism, and this just isn't registering on my journalist richter scale, this isn't that big a deal to me.



O'REILLY: But now Mr. Holt has to go up to Chappaqua and do the show on Hillary's front lawn to be fair and balanced.



GOLDBERG: Yeah, right.



O'REILLY: Doesn't he? If I was Hillary, I would say I want Lester up here on my front lawn doing the show.



GOLDBERG: Are you suggesting that there is no news value in doing it from the lobby of Donald Trump's office building?



O'REILLY: Yes, I am suggesting that. But I'm also suggesting that if you are going to be a network news broadcast, you can't go to one guy's house and not the other.



[...]



GOLDBERG: This is not registering on my richter scale.



O'REILLY: No? I thought it was a little bizarre. I thought it was a little bizarre, I was picturing back with Huntley, Brinkley. Would Huntley and Brinkley have been in the Trump Tower?



GOLDBERG: No.



O'REILLY: No.



GOLDBERG: No, and It's bizarre only if you don't accept that with Donald Trump running, everything is going to be a little bizarre, and if you can get ratings out of it, a lot of people will do things that they wouldn't normally do.



O'REILLY: Like take phone calls from the candidate, and that's unprecedented. Can you can ever remember anybody -- any other presidential candidate calling in to news shows?



GOLDBERG: No. I have got sort of mixed feelings on this one, too. Look, I think people -- if the only way to get Donald Trump is to do it over the phone, some news organizations will do it and some won't. But, I would prefer to interview a candidate, he or she, sitting right next to that person, there is a certain dynamic. But, if Barack Obama called up any morning show or basically any show and said, look -- let's say any morning show, and said “I'm not getting up in the middle of the night to be down at the studio at 6:30. If you want the interview, I will do it over the phone,” they would all say yes. So -- and radio interviews when they interview candidates, they often do it over the phone.



O'REILLY: Yeah, yeah. That's a good point.



GOLDBERG: I don't see this as any major --



O'REILLY: Maybe I'm wrong for not allowing call-ins to The Factor, I'll have to rethink it. But my rationale, so you know, was that if you're doing a phoner in here, you could have two or three guys whispering or writing you notes on what to say.



GOLDBERG: No. That's a good point.



O'REILLY: Right, and so I want, like you, you know you're facing me now. You can't, you know -- when you get in trouble, there is nobody to help you. The audience enjoys me flaying you. But if you were on the phone, you might have your wife telling you tell him this. So, that's why I don't do it.

Previously:



Why Is NBC Nightly News Broadcasting From Trump Tower?



Trump Says He Will Use News Media To Get Free Advertising To Beat Hillary Clinton



Ten Journalists Who Have Called Out Trump's “Shocking” Phone “Advantage”