Thursday, March 26, 2009

Liberal Balance on the Fox News Show Hannity?

The Daily Show's Jon Stewart summarized the manifest absurdity of the Hate Hannity Hotline:
I like the twist you put on it: Goading imbalanced viewers to call in, handpicking the crème de la crazy, and then basically saying that people who disagree with you are either insane or the Jerky Boys.


Here's the Daily Show video:

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c
Hate Hannity Hotline
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Links to informative sites about Sean Hannity:
1) Media Matters for America monitors Hannity: Click here for the latest on Hannity; here are additional Media Matters resources on Hannity.
2) Here is an article by Ben Fritz on Hannity's intellectual dishonesty in his book Let Freedom Ring.
3) The Center for American Progress has two informative articles about Hannity's dishonesty: click here and here.
4) Wikipedia has information about Hannity's mendacity--e.g., Hannity tried to portray an anti-troop protest by fundamentalist hatemonger Fred Phelps as being the work of the left (quick note: Fox News' Oliver North took the same tack).
5) I have several blog posts documenting Hannity's mendacity: (1) Hannity plays dumb when it suits his purposes; (2) Echoing the Moonie-owned Washington Times, Hannity intentionally truncated a John Kerry quote; (3) Hannity uses deceit to try to link Kerry with Jane Fonda--also here; (4) If you watch or listen to Hannity regularly, undoubtedly you've heard Hannity speak about how important it was for Americans to come together after 9/11. Don't believe him for a minute. Even as as the twin towers were still smoldering, Hannity was part of a Moonie Times smear campaign to distort a speech by former president Clinton to give people the false impression that Clinton was blaming America for the attacks. Read about it here and here; (5) Hannity is one of the usual suspects who used Sudanese propaganda to smear Bill Clinton; (6) Here's a blog post on the problems with the Hannity & Colmes show; (7) My article on Hannity's hypocrisy regarding Ann Coulter's denigrating comments about the 9/11 widows.
6) An article from The Nation about Hannity's relationship with violent white supremacist Hal Turner (Hannity was one of Trent Lott's biggest apologists after Lott defended Strom Thurmond's Dixiecrat presidential run). Here's a post I wrote after finding out that the KKK-owned "Redneck Shop" decided to advertise on Hannity's radio show. UPDATE: I have more on Turner and Hannity here.
7) ThinkProgress article in response to General Motors' (GM) decision to hire Sean Hannity to be spokesperson for GMÂ?s "You're A Great American" Car Give-Away.
8) Article on Hannity's friend Hal Turner by Dave Neiwert. Here's another article about the Hannity/Turner connection by Max Blumenthal.
9) Every since I whipped Hannity's ass on this program and on another occasion, Hannity has made sure that competent opponents don't show him up. Here's some revealing empirical evidence that Hannity is a total wuss [NOTE: if this link does not work at first, refresh it or click here for a truncated version--also I reprint it in the addendum of this post--scroll down to the end]. Hannity has also chickened out of debates with Ed Schultz and Salt Lake City mayor Rocky Anderson.
10) Hannity's vicious attacks on crime victim Abner Louima (also here).
11) Notice how Hannity criticizes people opposed to Bush's ineptitude in Iraq with the canard that they are undermining "the troops in harm's way and undermine their commander in chief while they're at war"? Here are some quotes by Hannity at a time in which we had a president who knew how to use the military.
12) Hannity, of course, defended Ann Coulter's Moussaoui-like attacks on women who lost their husbands on 9/11.
13) Al Franken has an entire chapter on Hannity and Alan Colmes in his book Lies and the Lying Liars who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right.
14) Campus Progress has an informative article about Hannity.
15) Watch this video of Howard Dean slamming Hannity and Fox News on live TV. Dean mentions Robert Greenwald's excellent documentary Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism:
15) Media Matters on Hannity's conspiracy-mongering regarding the death of Vince Foster on his Sunday television show on Fox "Hannity's America":(here, here, and here). this isn't surprising considering that Hannity's boss Roger Ailes has engaged in Foster conspiracy-mongering. Also, more Media Matters on Hannity's intellectual dishonesty--here, here, and here.
16) Post on Hannity and George Stephanopoulos.
17) Hannity baselessly links Barack Obama to Louis Farrakhan, even though Obama has emphatically repudiated the Nation of Islam leader.
18) Hannity & Colmes Presents Ann Coulter As Authority On Tasteful Remarks.
19) Hannity Baselessly Suggests That If Obama Wins, "That Would Mean A Racist And An Anti-Semite Would Be President Of The United States"
20) Racial Insensitivity On Hannity & Colmes
21) Hannity’s White Supremacist Friend Hal Turner Threatens Obama
22) Hannity Won't Admit He Was Wrong About Terri Schiavo
23) Hannity Calls Iraq Geroge W. Bush's "Biggest Success Story."
24) Hannity And Guests Rally Around Dog "The Bounty Hunter" Chapman after he used the term "nigger."
25) Jack Kemp Fed Up With Hannity’s Ad Hominem Attacks On Obama.
26) Hannity Uses Randi Rhodes’ Accident To Smear Her, Air America, Media Matters.
27) Hannity's Website Speculates About Assassination Of Barack Obama.
28) Hannity Defends And Participates In Hate-Mongering Bill Cunningham’s Use of "Barack Hussein Obama."
29) Sean Hannity Misrepresents Nancy Pelosi's Plane Issue
30) Hannity Says Bin Laden Sounds Like Democrats - Twice
31) Hannity Flees Angry Ron Paul Supporters--YouTube video
32) Hannity Pummeled On His Hypocrisy Over Ted Nugent.
33) Hannity Can’t Explain Why He Condemns Swift Boating Of John McCain After Endorsing The Same Tactic Against John Kerry
34) Wesley Clark Tells off Hannity
35) Hannity Meltdown video
36) "Fair And Balanced" Hannity & Colmes Includes No Obama Supporters In Any Of Six Segments Devoted To His Speech On Race
37) After Repeatedly Smearing Obama, Hannity Pretends He And FOX News Have Not Engaged In Personal Attacks.
38) FOX News’ Michael Reagan And Sean Hannity Blame Democrats For Haditha Massacre
39) Hannity and Kellyanne Conway Fall Over Themselves Trying To Defend Giuliani’s Bad-Husband Behavior.
40) Hannity calls Iraq war "Hillary's War."
41) Hannity’s America Offers A Kinder, Gentler Brand Of McCarthyism
42) Hannity Uses Dubious Sourcing and False Reports to Attack Al Gore
43) Hannity & Colmes Uses Don Imus Scandal To Attack An African American.
44) Hannity And The GOP Try - But Fail -To Spin Plame Outing As No Big Deal
45) "Patriotic" Sean Hannity Observes Iraq War Anniversary By Snubbing The Troops, Blaming The War On Democrats And Making It All About Himself.
46) Sean Hannity’s Latest Target For Bigotry: A Seven-Year-Old Girl
47) Racist Mark Fuhrman and Hannity Advocate For Racial Profiling
48)Hannity Gets His Facts Wrong About ANWR
49) White Supremacist Sympathizer Hannity and “Macaca” Aide Obenshain Try To Paint The Clintons As Racists
50) Jerry Falwell Gives Hannity Honorary Doctorate from his diploma mill, Liberty University
51) Predictably, Sean Hannity And David Horowitz Portray Mel Gibson As A Victim after the Actor's Bigoted and anti-Semitic outburst.
52) Hannity's "Investigation" of MoveOn.org Falls Flat.
53) Sean Hannity and Newt Gingrich Claim To Be Uniters, Not Dividers
54) Hannity Hypes Fabricated Koran Controversy To Drum Up Hatred For Keith Ellison
55) Hannity Repeats The Big Lie About The “Found” WMD’s
55) What A Hypocrite! Last Spring, Hannity Fawned All Over Fake Nobel Prize Nominee In The Terri Schiavo Matter. But For Tookie Williams, The Nomination "Doesn't Mean Anything"
56) Hannity Gets His Proof from Greg Palast
57) Chickenhawk Sean Hannity Smears War Veteran John Murtha
58) No Retraction On Hannity & Colmes Of False Attacks On Bill Moyers
59) Hannity Charges Almost $50,000 for Travel Expenses
60) Hannity Calls Cuba’s Castro “A Democrat,” Then Gets A Lesson About George Bush’s Unpopularity
61) The Hannity connection to gay hooker and fake journalist Jeff Gannon
62) Hannity asked if Jimmy Carter's planned Hamas meeting was a sign of Obama's "foreign policy strategy" -- but Obama has denounced Hamas
63) Hannity repeatedly distorts passage in Michelle Obama's senior thesis to suggest alumni views on race are her own.
64) Hannity exaggerated Ronald Reagan's record on jobs, federal revenue.
65) Hannity falsely asserted that Murtha "has gone to the other side" with his recent troop surge comments
66) On Hannity's radio show, Kathleen Willey contradicted her book's account of whether Shearer was said to have "ironclad" alibi
67) Hannity named Countdown's "Worst Person" for not disclosing his reported appearance at Giuliani fundraiser
68) Hannity refused to disavow Ted Nugent's slurs against Obama and Clinton
69) After suggesting Vince Foster was murdered, Hannity praised caller who accused Clinton of multiple rapes
70) Hannity falsely suggested that Obama "attack[ed] our troops as murderers"
71) Hannity repeatedly mischaracterized Obama remarks, accused him of "political missteps"
72) Colbert Report YouTube video ridiculing Hannity's baseless suggestion of "foul play" in Vince Foster's death
73) Hannity got "Worst Person" "silver" for using cucumber, condom to misrepresent Obama's stance on sex ed
74) Discussing Vince Foster, Hannity asked: "Did a close friend of Hillary Clinton commit suicide, or was it a massive coverup?"
75) Hannity asserted that "Whitewater and the death of Vince Foster" are "chapters remaining open" for Sen. Clinton
76) Hannity continued to bash carbon offsets -- no mention of Rupert Murdoch's purported plans to use them
77) Hannity still defending deeply flawed Path to 9/11 miniseries -- "It did get it right"
78) Hannity misrepresented Clinton quotes to claim she has "socialist views and intentions"
79) Hannity cropped Clinton quote to accuse her of "hypocrisy" on Iraq
80) Hannity repeatedly attacked Reid as "a propaganda minister for our enemies"
81) Hannity denounced as "hate speech" Clinton statement that GOP phone-jamming convictions were evidence of "vast right-wing conspiracy"
82) On Hannity's America, Path to 9/11 filmmaker Cyrus Nowrasteh defended scene he previously admitted was fabricated
83) Hannity: Ted Kennedy won't be "happy until" we have "mass slaughter" in Iraq
84) Citing no evidence, Hannity maintains Iraqi WMDs "were moved"
85) Hannity falsely claimed Democratic plan includes "nothing about ... increasing security in this country"
86) Hannity praised Michael Steele's "spectacular" and "principled" campaign, ignoring misleading campaign tactics
87) Not fair, not balanced: Sean Hannity shows his true colors
88) Bill O'Reilly and Hannity cropped Ted Turner quote to falsely accuse Turner of having "a hard time choosing sides in the war on terror"
89) Hannity: "[M]aking sure Nancy Pelosi doesn't become the [House] speaker" is "worth ... dying for"
90) Hannity: Democratic victory in midterms could be "victory for the terrorists"
91) Hannity: Despite both believing in global warming threat, "Al Gore is unhinged," but Pat Robertson is "sane"
92) Hannity's 180s: He labeled North Korea a "crisis" two days after criticizing others for doing so; criticized Democrats for debating Iraq war, not tolerating debate
93) Hannity falsely suggested Coulter never "suggested that Bill Clinton should die"; Coulter claimed Supreme Court's Gitmo decision confirms someone put "rat poison in Justice Stevens's crème brûlée"
94) Hannity criticized media, Bush administration for not "paying attention to" Santorum and Hoekstra's discredited WMD claims
95) Hannity repeated false claim that Reagan oversaw "longest period of peacetime growth"
96) Limbaugh, Hannity continued to attack Murtha based on
inaccurate Sun-Sentinel report
97) Hannity drew baseless comparison between N.Y. state comptroller's remark and Trent Lott's praise of Strom Thurmond's 1948 segregationist presidential campaign
98) Hannity falsely claimed Obama and Harry Reid "attack[ed]" U.S. troops in Iraq.
99) Hannity compared a vote for Hillary Clinton to a vote for Hamas or Hezbollah
100) Hannity wrongly accused Sen. Clinton of "hypocrisy" on illegal immigration
101) Hannity falsely claimed Sen. Clinton "says immigration reform is un-Christian"
102) Hannity falsely claimed Feingold was a "flip-flopper" on Iraq invasion
103) Hannity accused "Kool-Aid" drinking "Clinton supporters" of having "defended the indefensible"; what about Hannity?
104) Hannity refused to say if he agreed with Coulter that Democrats "have affection for ... terrorists"
105) Hannity repeated William Bennett's Freakonomics falsehood
106) Hannity quoted Pelosi out of context, falsely suggesting she changed her position on the Iraq war
107) Hannity falsely claimed that Reagan's tax cuts "doubled revenue"
108) Hannity falsely claimed Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg advocated legalizing prostitution, lowering the consent age to 12
109) Hannity: "Some say" Robertson advocated Chavez's assassination; "some" includes the videotape and Robertson.
110) Hannity promoting "disgusting" book that even O'Reilly has criticized
111) Hannity falsely claimed "absence of evidence" that John Kerry "was in combat in Vietnam"
112) Hannity falsely claimed that everyone "got the same amount" from Bush's tax cuts
113. Misrepresenting Obama's audiobook, Hannity claimed Obama said, "'White folks' greed runs a world in need"
114. Hannity's memory lapse: "I don't remember Chelsea Clinton being attacked." Hannity forgets that both John McCain and Rush Limbaugh attacked Chelsea, then a teenager, with vicious humor. Also, Al Franken, in Lies and the Lying Liars who Tell Them pointed out that he confronted Hannity about Limbaugh's attack on Chelsea.


115. Hannity is named by Media Matters for America the 2008 Misinformer of the Year
116. Hannity misquoted Obama to falsely accuse him of breaking promise.
117. Hannity misrepresents source of editorial to claim that "liberal media" outlet claimed Obama has "embarrassed America"
118. Like O'Reilly, Hannity misrepresented Obama remark to falsely claim he made a "campaign promise" to allow "no earmarks"
119. NCLR President demands correction from Hannity for libelous statement.
120. Hilarious video: Hannity named "Worst Person in the World" by Keith Olbermann for his phony claim about the false claim that the economic recovery bill contains money to protect the salt marsh harvest mouse and the LA to Las Vegas railway system.
121. Former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich called out leading right-wing media figures for falsely suggesting that he proposed excluding white males from the President's stimulus package
122. Hannity raises Caroline Kennedy "marital issues" rumor, but denounced NY Times John McCain article as "nothing but innuendo, rumor"
123. Hannity was not alone in smearing, misinforming on Fox News in 2008
124. Hannity complained of DOJ bias in rapid Ted Stevens prosecution, but Stevens reportedly requested speedy trial
125. Hannity ignored Norm Coleman ballot challenges to accuse Al Franken of "stealing an election"
126. WSJ, Fox News' Brit Hume and Hannity repeated baseless "car ballot" story to suggest vote tampering by MN officials
127. Hannity criticized Barack Obama over comments that Hannity misleadingly cropped
128. Hannity vs. Hannity: Is he, or is he not, a "journalist"?
129. Hannity Accuses Harry Reid Of Wanting American Troops To Die
130. Hannity Promoting Fraudster Fugitive Allen Stanford's Company Stanford Coins & Bullion
131. Hannity Distorts And Falsifies Border Agent Case To Suit His Agenda (Jose Alonso Compean and Ignacio Ramos)
132. Hannity Denies Past Association With White Supremacist Hal Turner But Evidence Suggests Otherwise
133. Hannity Revives Suggestion Obama May Be Muslim
134. Hannity blames Sen. Charles Schumer For US Airways Crash
135. Hannity's Website Speculates About Assassination Of Obama
136. Hannity And Guests Accuse Barack Obama Of Wanting To Kill Infants
137. Sean Hannity Defends And Participates In Hate-Mongering Bill Cunningham’s Use of “Barack Hussein Obama”
138. Funny Jon Stewart video on the Hate Hannity Hotline.
139. Limbaugh, Hannity, and the GOP: an iron triangle of stimulus misinformation
140. Hannity says that Christianity allows torture.
141. John Aravosis asks why does Howard Kurtz think Sean Hannity is relevant?

Daily Show video Clips of Hannity"
1. Moment of Zen - Hannity Reveals the True Obama
2. Only The Lonely: Sean Hannity defends the lonely people in this world who call escorts just to have the company.
3. On the "Hannity Sucks Ass" sign
4. Sean Hannity tells Art Torres to be quiet.

Addendum: Talk Show Radio Accessibility--Follow-Up Survey Results
Research 2000 thought it would be an interesting endeavor to find out how six nationally syndicated talk radio programs handle incoming calls among individuals who wish to engage in the live talk show over the air. The our original April ‘06 ‘Talk Show Radio Accessibility Survey Results‘ were interesting enough to report in the hopes that “ALL” talk radio hosts and formats in the future will make it less restrictive and more accessible for potential call in guests regardless of whether or not they have a differing point of view.
Findings:

* Ed Shultz “as the easiest to get on the air with regardless of the caller’s “view point for the simple reason that the show is the only format of the six that does not ask the caller what they want to discuss.”
* Sean Hannity comes in last place with “none” of the callers “with a different view point” getting on the air.
* The “one caller of five dissenting view points” allowed on Limbaugh’s show “went through three screeners before getting on the air.“
* Ingraham, Miller and Rhodes showed “no significant differences” in terms of getting on the air “if one had a dissenting view point.
* In all cases, callers with dissenting views were able to get on the air with the host.

Methodology:

While the following survey results do not possess the standard 95 percent confidence level or 5% margin for error which is standard within the scientific polling community, Research 2000’s follow yielded almost identical results.

In August and September, we examined the same six nationally syndicated talk shows we did back in April which are heard in the Washington DC ADI five days weekly between August 21 through September 19, 2006. Three liberal: Stephanie Miller, Randi Rhodes and Ed Shultz. Three conservative: Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham and Rush Limbaugh. Back in April, each program was called ten times (5 with a point of view compatible with the host and most of the callers and 5 that were not). In the August-September follow up survey, we called each show 15 times with a point of view which was not compatible with the host and most of the callers. We decided not to do any calls with compatible view points because the April survey showed that those callers with compatible views with the host and most of the callers were able to get through and on the air between 15-30 minutes with each of the hosts.

The rank order below is based on how accessible it was for one to get through to the host with both a liberal and conservative point of view.

Once again, there was no significant differences between the Laura Ingraham, Stephanie Miller and Randi Rhodes shows in terms of getting on the air if one had a dissenting view point. In all cases, callers with dissenting views were able to get on the air with the host. The wait on hold was longest for the Laura Ingraham show and that averaged 40 minutes to one hour and fifteen minutes. For Miller it was 35 minutes to one hour and for Rhodes it was 30 minutes to 40 minutes.The difference between number 2 and 4 are slight and the rank order is based purely on the amount of time one was on hold. Both Ingraham’s and Miller’s wait on hold increased slightly from April, while Rhodes had a slight decrease.

Only two callers of fifteen dissenting view points was successful in getting on the Rush Limbaugh show. Both callers went through three screeners on the show before getting on the air with the host. However, the other thirteen callers with dissenting view points were told politely that the host would not be taking calls on either the subject matter or a dissenting point of view.


Bonus: Rush Limbaugh Links
1) Media Matters for America monitors Limbaugh and has an updated page on Limbaugh.
2. I have several informative posts on my main web site that give a lot of information about Limbaugh: 1) A compendium of hateful statements by Limbaugh; 2)I have posts on Limbaugh's virulent racism, here and here; 3) My article on Limbaugh's drug problem.
3. Limbaugh denigration of veteran's military service: 1) Around the same time that the 2000 Bush campaign was orchestrating the whisper campaign that John McCain's POW experience made him mentally unbalanced, Limbaugh has a parody of The Caine Mutiny casting John McCain was the paranoid Captain Queeg; 2) Limbaugh's denigration of Iraq veteran Paul Hackett, who was running for Congress as a Democrat: Limbaugh called Hackett a "staff puke" who "to pad [his] resume." Here's Hackett's apt response to Limbaugh; 3) Limbaugh denigrated John Kerry's military service even before the Swiftboaters were formed; 4) Limbaugh's "phony soldiers" smear against members of the US military.
4. Limbaugh's paranoid Clinton-bashing almost leads to a fatality.
5. Journalist David Neiwert's series on Limbaugh, "Rush, Newspeak and Fascism" Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, and Part VI.
5. I have the transcript of the infamous on-air conversation Limbaugh had with "Greg from Orlando" in which Greg confronts Limbaugh about his reasons for not fighting in Vietnam (here is Snopes.com on the matter; also, Joe Conason has an article on the flap).
6. In addition to the previously listed posts on Limbaugh's racism, there are other sites that have chronicled Limbaugh's hatred against minorities: 1) Media Matters on Limbaugh's racism against Barack Obama; 2) Jeff Cohen and Steve Rendall on Limbaugh's racism. Here's an informative article on limbaugh's "Barack the Magic Negro" flap. Ironically, despite Limbaugh's racist rantings, he has accused Democrats of being racist for criticizing Al Sharpton and then-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. Here's another Limbaugh false charge of racism. bill clinton bull connor1/2008 UPDATE: Limbaugh compared Bill Clinton to segregationist "Bull" Connor.
7. Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) did an analysis of Limbaugh's claims on his radio show in the 1990's that infuriated him.
8. During the Clinton presidency, Limbaugh, along with Roger Ailes, was one of the top Vince Foster conspiracy theorists. Even though numerous investigations has shown that Foster committed suicide and not murdered, Limbaugh has not apologized and continues to suggest that anyone who crosses the Clintons will face a similar fate (click here and here).