TALK TO THE HANN
Fox hack deserves his diss
For a guy who’s hung his hat at a “news” network for so many years, Sean Hannity sure holds a feeble grasp of how real television journalism works. The Fox News Channel host is fuming that during a segment on “CBS Sunday Morning,” Ted Koppel interviewed him (and others) about the country’s partisan split, but edited out parts of his 45-minute interview with Koppel that he believes are relevant.
Now he has demanded — and is attempting to whip his followers into a lather — that CBS release the entire interview. That clearly is very important to him, but unnecessary for the balanced piece that already aired on TV.
Hours after the segment aired Sunday and through Monday, Hannity was complaining Koppel railroaded him when he pressed the newsman to admit or deny that Hannity’s unchecked rhetoric was damaging American discourse. Here’s what they said on TV:
HANNITY: We have to give some credit to the American people that they are somewhat intelligent and that they know the difference between an opinion show and a news show. You’re cynical. KOPPEL: I am cynical. HANNITY: Do you think we’re bad for America? You think I’m bad for America? KOPPEL: Yeah. HANNITY: You do? KOPPEL: You have attracted people who are determined that ideology is more important than facts.
Clearly stung, Hannity (photo inset) has since unleashed nearly a dozen tweets about the interview, claiming it was “fake news” because Koppel didn’t include all of Hannity’s examples of media bias.
In the safe space on his own show Monday night, he devoted nearly 10 minutes to blasting Koppel and CBS News for Sunday’s report.
Sorry, Sean, that is the way it works when a general interest network news program like “CBS Sunday Morning” has only a limited time to devote to many different stories.
In fact, it occurs on Fox News Channel all the time, when the channel is reporting news and not Hannity’s own opinions.
Yet there was Hannity raging on Twitter: “Fake ‘edited’ news. I did about a 45-minute interview with CBS. They ran less than 2. Why did Ted cut out my many examples of media bias?” Hannity admittedly does not traffic in news, but he frequently makes it appear as if he does, which was Koppel’s point.
Given the political divide that has swept the U.S. in recent times, the lines between fact and opinion are intentionally blurred, and Hannity is a big part of that.
His Twitter tantrum is a good example. When he, President Trump and millions of their fans hear or read something that they do not like in the mainstream media, it is branded as “fake.” Hannity, by the way, is mainstream media — Fox is the most watched news network of all.
Maybe Hannity is upset that he was taken down a notch — to his face — by a vastly more experienced journalist like Koppel, who did not bend or wilt in the face of his blustering hyperpartisanship. Hannity, in fact, can twist and spin the facts any way that he likes in his own space on Fox News — and he can count on millions of fans believing every word.
As Koppel revealed, in the real world, where the difference between alternative facts and truth matters, Hannity is a
lightweight.