Apparently, CNN Chief Jeff Zucker’s criticisms of Fox News as a “pure propaganda machine” were just too much for snowflake Sean Hannity’s tender sensibilities. So he “defended” his network by ranting about Bill Clinton and called CNN the “Bleep hole network.” So professional!
In case you missed it, yesterday Zucker affirmed the comments of Fox analyst Ralph Peters whose “nuclear” departure reportedly hit Fox “like a bombshell.” In his epic email to his former colleagues, Peters blasted “prime-time hosts—who have never served our country in any capacity” yet “dismiss facts and empirical reality to launch profoundly dishonest assaults on the FBI, the Justice Department, the courts, the intelligence community (in which I served) and, not least, a model public servant and genuine war hero such as Robert Mueller—all the while scaremongering with lurid warnings of “deep-state” machinations.”
You don’t need to be part of the intelligence community to know that at least one of those prime hosts Peters referred to was Hannity. Ooh, that must have stung the thin-skinned bully! And, oh, the horror for poor widdle Hannity when Zucker piled on!
From Variety: Zucker spoke at the Financial Times-hosted Future of News conference in New York. In discussing the general state of the cable TV marketplace, Zucker said he feels Fox News has taken a bad turn during the past two years with unquestioning coverage of the Trump administration. Even in the sharp elbows world of cable TV news, Zucker’s comments were surprisingly harsh as a blanket statement about a competitor. “What has happened there in the last two years is somewhat shocking frankly. It really is state-run TV,” Zucker said in a Q&A with the Financial Times’ Matthew Garrahan. “It is a pure propaganda machine and I think it does an incredible disservice to this country.” Zucker’s comments echoed the sentiment of former Fox News contributor Lt. Col. Ralph Peters, who resigned from his role at the network citing concerns about the quality of the journalism at Fox News. “He said out loud what many have been saying about what Fox News has become,” Zucker said. “What has happened to that network in the last 18 months, especially in the last year, it has just turned itself over to state-run TV. Tass has nothing on them.”
But Hannity didn’t have the cojones to answer Peters’ charges. Or even Zucker’s. Instead, he launched a series of unhinged attacks on Zucker, CNN and Bill Clinton. HANNITY: And the head of fake news CNN, the soon to be scandal-plagued Jeff Zucker, OK, you want to take pot shots at Fox News, Jeff? Let’s go. We’re going to unveil our new nickname for the bleep hole network. Plus, we’re going to call out the hypocrisy of the media’s news Stormy Daniels 24/7, 365, obsession, the same people that ignored Bill Clinton’s accusers for decades. Oh, and by the way, in those cases, it wasn’t always consensual, was it?
Yeah, Sean, nothing says “real news” like calling your rival “the bleep hole network.” HANNITY: But we begin tonight with more fake news from CNN. This time, it is spewing from the lips of the Clinton news network president. His name is Jeff Zucker. And according to ‘The Hollywood Reporter’, Zucker recently blasting Fox News’s, quote, propaganda machine and state-run TV. By the way, Fox News, like every newspaper in the country, they have a sports page, they have a news page, a gossip page and they have an editorial page. Oh, opinion programming.
Hannity just forgot to mention that he presents his own show as a news show and himself as a journalist – when it’s convenient. HANNITY: Jeff Zucker’s bleep hole network, well, they also have a new obsession, basically, soft core pornography from the nonstop coverage of Stormy Daniels, to the constant speculation about an alleged affair between Trump and a porn star. If you’re looking for 24/7, never-ending, looped around porn-related news, CNN fake news, they have you covered. Take a look.
As if Hannity would not have devoted 24/7 to porn star Stormy Daniels and former Playmate Karen McDougal had they been Bill Clinton’s paramours. Heck, nearly 20 years after he has left office, Hannity is pretending Clinton's sex life is news. All in the name of fairness, of course. HANNITY: We might have a brand new name for [CNN’s] leader, their chief, their CEO, Jeff Zucker, the porn king of cable news. Of course, porn king Jeff Zucker and his colleagues at the bleep-hole network, they’re not alone in their Stormy obsession. NBC, ABC, CBS and others also featuring saturated coverage of the story. Predictably, the same level of media interest was not present back in the early 1990s when then-President Bill Clinton was accused of having multiple extramarital affairs and even worse, engaging in serious instances of sexual misconduct. By the way, in the case of Gennifer Flowers, she was proven right but I remember James Carville—oh, he worked and was one of the people talking about it or dragging her through a trailer park about Paula Jones. Remember Paula Jones? She accused Bill Clinton of literally pulling down his pants and exposing himself. And according to the Media Research Center, the first three days of that scandal, ABC provided a whopping 16 seconds of coverage. NBC, CBS, they ignored it. And next, there’s the case of Kathleen Willey, and she said that Bill Clinton groped, grabbed, fondled, touched, kissed her against her will inside the Oval Office. That story breaks, how’s your fake news handle it? ABC ignores it, NBC, CBS gave it a whopping 34 seconds of coverage, again, according to the Media Research Center. CNN, meanwhile, they dedicated 26 seconds of coverage during their evening newscast. Then, of course, you have the serious allegation of rape, Juanita Broaddrick. And I interviewed Juanita Broaddrick, one of the toughest interviews I ever did. This surfaced first in 1998. Media Research Center tells us ABC, CBS totally ignored the breaking story. NBC aired seven minutes of coverage, but not before initially spiking its pre-taped interview with Juanita Broaddrick. This proves what I’ve been saying about journalism since, what, 2007 or ‘08, it’s dead and buried in this country. We’ll have more in this later in the show.
Right, Sean, nothing says “real journalism” like making Donald Trump’s scandals all about the nearly two-decades old scandals of Bill Clinton. All the while ignoring what's significant about the Daniels and McDougal stories: that the hush money paid them could have been illegal and thus they have the potential of bringing down Trump.
Watch Hannity inadvertently prove both Peters and Zucker right above, from the March 22, 2018 Hannity.
Crossposted at News Hounds.
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