Sean Hannity’s Call For Donald Trump’s Media Boycott Causes Controversy
Sean Hannity has one of the highest rated cable news shows on the air right now, and, as the Inquisitr reported this past weekend, his ratings are only getting higher. Part of Hannity’s appeal is that he says what he thinks and doesn’t care how others react.
A recent example of this is when, a couple of days back, Hannity called on Trump to ignore the mainstream press. Politico reported the story on Wednesday.
“Fox News commentator Sean Hannity said that until journalists admit to colluding with Hillary Clinton’s campaign, President-elect Donald Trump should reconsider granting traditional access to reporters.”
“Trump can do this and speak directly to you, the America people, without having his words twisted and taken out of context. Why not do that?” Hannity asked, referring to the fact Trump put out his own video announcing his executive actions in his first 100 days in office.
As Politico noted, stolen emails from Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta show that many media outlets colluded with Hillary Clinton. Sean Hannity and others believe this is absolutely unethical. Of course, there are many media outlets who accuse Sean Hannity of partnering with Trump and his campaign.
Alina Horowitz Satlin of the Huffington Post believes that Sean Hannity’s attacks on journalists sink to a new low.
“A cursory look at major media outlets? including the ones Hannity called out? will show a slew of negative stories about the Clinton campaign. These include the former secretary of state’s use of a private email server, her paid speeches to Wall Street and the FBI’s decision to reopen her investigation days before the election,” Satlin claims, adding that many of these news outlets reported the investigation, despite the fact that it turned out to be nothing significant.
Given that the Huffington Post is a left-leaning website, it’s not surprising that a lot of the commenters after the article support the author.
“Great! The extreme right media Faux News along with the President attacking what real news organizations we have left…who are they going to put in the White House press room ‘Breitbart News and Fox?’…wouldn’t put it past them!” says Brian Lippe.
“What if we were wasting, prodigiously, our times on this low level coward? What if journalists reporting on this non journalist is their own ongoing deliberate mistake disguised as constent surprises? We know who this man is and we know for who he is working. So what the f**k?” asks Teddy Raoul.
However, Sean Hannity has a lot of support for his suggestions on Twitter.
Donald Trump has frequently complained (and some believe rightly so) that the media has been completely biased towards him. Trump met with New York Times journalists earlier this week, but that hasn’t done a thing to stop the “paper of record” from bashing him. However, some think that Trump’s election will give new relevance to the conservative media. Politico journalist Charles Sykes, a conservative himself, doesn’t necessarily think that’s a good thing.
“Trump’s victory means that the most extreme and recklessly irresponsible voices on the right now feel emboldened and empowered. And more worrisome than that, they have an ally in the White House.”
Sykes adds that the “new” media will not only provide propaganda pieces for the administration but will also try to hurt their critics and dissenters. Sykes uses Sean Hannity as a bad example of the new media. Do you agree with Sykes, or do you think Sean Hannity is correct in his criticism of the mainstream media? Let us know in the comments section.
[Featured Image by Joe Raedle/Getty Images]
