Bill O'Reilly vs. the New York Times

O'Reilly and the New York Times haven't often seen eye to eye, and they've lately been engaged in a fierce war of words over immigration. A few days ago the New York Times wrote an editorial titled "The Nativists Are Reckless" in which they chastized elements of what they believed to be "radicalist extremism" in the Republican Party on immigration. Here's an excerpt:

It is all around us. Much was made of the Republican mailing of the parody song “Barack the Magic Negro,” but the same notorious CD included “The Star Spanglish Banner,” a puerile bit of Latino-baiting. It is easily found on YouTube. Google the words “Bill O’Reilly” and “white, Christian male power structure” for another YouTube taste of the Fox News host assailing the immigration views of “the far left” (including The Times) as racially traitorous.

This is the clip on O'Reilly that the New York Times was referring to:



O'Reilly responded aggressively on his show recently:



I wonder the extent to which this editorial was influenced by Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim's new stake in the Times ownership. Also, I'm curious as to whether there are other motivation behind these types of media wars. A part of it must be to preserve egos, but it would be interesting to know if conflicts like these enhance readership/viewership, at least in the short-term, for one or both parties involved.