Opinion: Sean Hannity cannot tweet his way out of journalistic corruption

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/erik-wemple/wp/2018/04/19/sean-hannity-cannot-tweet-his-way-out-of-journalistic-corruption/?utm_term=.37b08e98db80

 

As The Post’s Paul Farhi noted, Fox News host Sean Hannity has had trouble settling on a description for what he does each night at the network. When he’s perhaps feeling a bit self-righteous, he says, “I’m a journalist. But I’m an advocacy journalist, or an opinion journalist.” When his ethics come under fire, as they have this week, he also tries a less demanding title:

Sean Hannity

 

✔@seanhannity

 

 

More “Anonymous” sources! I have said “I’m not a journalist” in the traditional sense. I have said I am an opinion journalist or advocacy journalist and I am. But I am a radio and TV Talk Show Host. https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/is-sean-hannity-a-journalist-or-not-heres-why-it-matters/2018/04/18/ca6b6bc2-431e-11e8-8569-26fda6b404c7_story.html?utm_term=.8df272d9a7c8 …

3:44 PM - Apr 18, 2018

Is Sean Hannity a journalist or not? Here’s why it matters.

Under fire for his Cohen connection, the Fox host has given varying explanations of his role.

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Hey, who cares how Hannity defines his job? We here at the Erik Wemple Blog do not. All that matters is the area circled in the image below:

Fox News. Whatever Hannity or a Fox News representative may say, the network’s viewers are being trained to believe that they’re getting news during Hannity’s always-frothing hour of chatter. News is delivered by journalists. If the host and his bosses wish to exempt Hannity from the attendant requirements, they should change the logo in the bottom left of the screen. “Fox Talk” might work, or perhaps “Trump Time with Sean.”

The backdrop for this whole discussion, of course, is the news Monday that Hannity was the mysterious “third client” of Michael Cohen, Trump’s longtime fixer and personal attorney. In the past week alone, Hannity has expressed outrage over FBI raids of Cohen’s addresses and has had chummy discussions with him on air. Though Hannity has indeed disclosed a friendship, he never told viewers, nor his Fox News bosses, about any legal relationship with Cohen.

So clueless is Hannity about conflicts that he exacerbated matters when he attempted to explain his way out of the jam. “Michael Cohen never represented me in any legal matter,” he said. “I never retained his services, I never received an invoice, I never paid Michael Cohen for legal fees. I did have occasional brief conversations with Michael Cohen — he’s a great attorney — about legal questions I had. Or I was looking for input and perspective. My discussions with Michael Cohen never rose to any level that I needed to tell anyone that I was asking him questions, and to be absolutely clear, they never involved any matter, any — sorry to disappoint so many — matter between me, a third party, a third group – at all. And my questions exclusively almost focused on real estate. I have said many times on air, I hate the stock market — I prefer real estate. Michael knows real estate. So in response to all the wild speculation, I want to set the record straight here tonight.”

On his radio show, he said, “I might have handed him 10 bucks [and said,] ‘I definitely want your attorney-client privilege on this.’ Something like that.” (Fox News has said it was unaware of Hannity’s “informal” relationship with Cohen and after a discussion with the host, declared its “full support” for him.)

Drop Hannity’s cumulative comments in the wash, and the result is this: He received advice from Cohen — killer advice, by his own admission — and paid next to nothing for it. Which is to say, Cohen has done him a favor or two — and that compromises Hannity more than a conventional relationship in which he pays market rate for the counsel. “Free legal work encourages a sense of obligation in the client,” notes Stephen Gillers, a professor of legal ethics at NYU School of Law and author of the forthcoming “The Press under Fire: Protecting the Future of Investigative Reporting.”