Sean Hannity once again made it clear to viewers on his Friday night broadcast that he is no journalist. In his own words, he is a “talk show host” who is upfront about his political loyalties.
It might not be coincidental that the Fox News anchor took the time to justify how he goes about his job the same day CNN reported on text conversations Hannity had after the 2020 presidential election with Mark Meadows, then President Donald Trump’s chief of staff.
The messages, including those in a similar batch revealed by CNN last week, are damning. They depict Hannity as taking on the role not unlike that of a GOP operative, namely taking direction from Meadows about Election Day get-out-the-vote initiatives to broadcast on his afternoon radio show, having his “team digging into the numbers” to try to prove the existence of widespread voter fraud, and even writing a campaign ad for Trump’s re-election bid.
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“I go out of my way to explain what my job is, because a lot of people in the media mob do not understand what we do,” Hannity began, as if those texts required a translation. “Yes, I’m a member of the press… I’m on the Fox News Channel–which is a news channel–but I don’t claim to be a journalist. I claim to be a talk show host.”
Hannity said he “can” produce straight news and investigative reports, but at the same time he is “up-front” about who he is.
“I am a registered conservative. Yes, I voted for Donald Trump. I make no apologies, I give my opinions straightforward. We even do culture, we do sports–I’m like the whole newspaper.”
Hannity then reiterated what he claimed in the past: that those on other networks are duplicitous in that they too have a political bent, but don’t reveal it.
“They’re talk show hosts just like me, except they’re not honest about it,” Hannity insisted.
