Here’s your fair and balanced news story of the day. According to the Daily News, Sean Hannity recently introduced Rudy Giuliani at a closed-door, $250-per-head fundraiser in New York City, committing what many at real journalism outfits would call an unpardonable ethical sin. Even for FOX, this blurs the lines between its standard journalism-cum-advocacy and outright advocacy. The defense from FOX’s senior vice-president of programming? “Sean is not a journalist — Sean is a conservative commentator.” That’s true, he’s not a journalist. In fact, FOX News talking heads are proudly anti-journalist.
The Hannity-Giuliani nexis should surprise no one. Hannity’s crush on Rudy is well-documented.
The Hotline, a political journal, has noted that through July 15, Giuliani had enjoyed 115 minutes of free face time on Fox – more than half of that on “Hannity & Colmes.” His airtime on Fox was 25% higher than any other Republican candidate, data show.
Fair. And. Balanced. No doubt about it. If I was Mitt Romney, I’d be pissed.
