Sean Hannity defends Fox News after journalism professors publish critical letter about coronavirus coverage

On Thursday, 74 journalism professors wrote an open letter to Fox Corporation chairman Rupert Murdoch and CEO Lachlan Murdoch claiming that coverage of the coronavirus from the company's Fox News Channel "is a danger to public health."

The professors cite the results of a YouGov/Economist poll that indicates "Americans who pay the most attention to Fox News are much less likely than others to say they are worried about the coronavirus," according to their letter.

The letter says that "as the virus spread across the world, Fox News hosts and guests minimized the dangers, accusing Democrats and the media of inflating the dangers (in Sean Hannity's words) to 'bludgeon Trump with this hew hoax.'"

While the Murdochs were unavailable to respond to the letter, Hannity spoke to Newsweek about the accusations levied against him and the network.

-You read the letter?

Yes. Here's my thoughts: Moments like this bring out the best in some, and the absolute worst in others. I spent 30 minutes on my radio show today about the public-private partnerships, like with pharmaceuticals, Walmart, Target, Walgreens. We're told pharmaceutical companies are evil. They're not. We're told to hate Walmart, I love them. They're beating up the poor MyPillow guy, Michael Lindell, for turning over his factory to make masks for people who need them. It's ridiculous.

-And what are you saying is an example of the worst?

You saw the worst in Congress when they held up the aid bill. Why? Because they wanted to fund the National Endowment for the Arts and change voting rules, and fund the Kennedy Center. They wasted all that time because they couldn't pass a clean bill. Then there's another example of the worst with the media mob saying they won't cover the president's press conference during a national emergency. Hey, I see the ratings. I used to be No. 1 until Trump's press coronavirus conferences, because people need to hear information for themselves, about medicine, supplies, groceries, the economy.

-But the topic at hand is the letter from the professors.

The first known case of coronavirus in the U. S. was January 21. Dr. Anthony Fauci, who is a national hero and I'm not criticizing him, said on January 26 that Americans didn't have much to worry about. I have the tape. On January 31, President Trump initiated the travel ban from China and every Democrat in office and every media outlet said it was beyond reprehensible, xenophobic and fear-mongering.

-But these professors are saying you're some sort of coronavirus-denier.

Go to my web site and you'll see irrefutable evidence that I have taken this seriously way before most in the media did. I warned in January that it was dangerous because it was highly contagious, but some people were asymptomatic, so it would spread quickly.

-So does Fox News violate "elementary canons of journalism" as the professors say in their letter?

They're guilty of what they accuse me of. I said it in 2007: Journalism is dead. Remember how many were wrong about the Duke lacrosse players and Nicholas Sandmann? Everything the media said about them was false. Sandmann is going to be a very wealthy kid because the media will have to pay plenty to settle his lawsuits. You know why? Because they're guilty as hell.... (Read more)

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