Is Megyn Kelly just an appealing version of Bill O’Reilly?

A California professor researching a book on the history of TV news watched and analyzed for six weeks Megyn Kelly’s program on Fox News and essentially concluded that Kelly is Bill O’Reilly in a short skirt.

Charles L. Ponce de Leon, an associate professor of history and American Studies at California State University Long Beach, said he set out to determine if Fox’s rising star was really different than the rest of the Fox team, as some in the media have argued, or if “The Kelly Files” is an attempt by Fox creator Roger Ailes to reach out to a wider audience.

The professor's conclusions will not please Fox fans or Fox haters.

Ponce de Leon determined that Kelly, from her prime time 9 p.m. perch, is actually aiming for the same viewers as O’Reilly and the others – “a core audience (that) is more than just a particular slice of the larger consumer marketplace.  It’s a group of people with firm convictions and a coherent ideological worldview.”

Here’s a slice of his guest column for Salon:

“It’s true that she is less doctrinaire than Hannity.  And she can occasionally ask good questions — though, mostly, it’s her prosecutorial style, rather than the question itself, that it is noteworthy.  Watching her regularly, however, made me realize that she’s merely a slightly different version of O’Reilly — she’s a smart, engaging television personality whose ‘reports’ reaffirm the conservative ideology of most of her viewers.

“Kelly’s biggest attribute is her personality.  She’s intelligent, down-to-earth and can poke fun at herself as well as at her guests.  And, no doubt much to Ailes’s delight, she has developed a very effective broadcasting style.  Her husky voice, quick wit and experience as a lawyer give her an admirable air of authority.  In the peculiar style favored by (Fox) producers, she evokes a still glamorous ex-cheerleader.  She is also a superb performer, never losing her cool or command of her program.  She’s well-suited for television journalism, and in another era, would likely have been a big star for the networks."