Sean Hannity, the host of Fox News prime-time show is allegedly beginning to see an advertiser backlash against his volatility and extreme positions. The activist group Media Matters, which was in the foreground of the demise of Bill O Reilly, launched a campaign in August to target Hannity’s advertisers. The campaign made no secret of its aspiration to bring Hannity down and the Stop Hannity August campaign was part of an advertiser targeted drive to push advertisers to leave his show. The Associated Press has now published a report which examined the initial weeks (in May) of the campaign and the impact it’s had on advertisers and ad revenue.
Sean Hannity is now Fox’s last great star since the ousting of Bill O’Reilly and Megan Kelly’s defection to a rival network. . His show, which is broadcast in the 9 p.m. slot regularly captures more than 2 million viewers. He is also seen as the last of the old guard as the last one with links to the culture of disgraced former CEO Roger Ailes.
Media Matters started a petition page on their site which invites people to send messages to the shows advertisers asking the companies to break off their association with the controversial Fox News host. They prominently list the shows advertisers on the site and have also been reaching out on social media and by email. Media Matters asserts that his unfailing support of the Donald Trump Presidency and agenda amounts to nothing short of propaganda and he has been exposed on numerous occasions for actively coordination with the Whitehouse to bolster the President’s interests. He has also demonstrated that he has no issue with lying to his audience to advance these goals. The Associated Press (AP) just published a report that looked at the first few weeks of Media Matters’ Stop Hannity effort and discussed the effect it’s having on Sean Hannity’s advertisers.
Known for peddling conspiracy theories, Hannity has consistently promoted the debunked theory Russia didn’t hack the American Presidential election. This is a view that runs contrary to all the findings of the US intelligence services. Fox ran a story that a DNC staffer, Seth Rich leaked the documents to Wikileaks and was subsequently murdered by allies of the Clintons in retribution for the betrayal. Fox quickly retracted the preposterous story in a statement which acknowledged that the story had not been subjected to the expected high level of scrutiny. Hannity however continued to nourish and support the false story despite pleas from Seth Rich’s family to stop promoting the hurtful theory. Critics allege it is part of a strategy to detract attention away from negative coverage of the President.
Hannity has also courted controversy by echoing Donald Trump’s defense of white supremacists and neo-Nazis who rallied in Charlottesville. He has elevated the Presidency personal lawyer as an unchallenged expert brought along to pour scorn on Trump’s detractors and promote attacks on them.
Many people believe and Media Matters asserts Hannity is therefore functioning as state programming. They contend that advertisers who sponsor his program are provide clear financial support for Hannity and his propaganda platform. Fox News have demonstrated that they are unwilling or unable to rein him in. Ultimately the level of toxicity and controversy that Hannity invites is bad for business.
As for the actual numbers of advertisers who many be dropping Hannity, the boycott hasn’t proved 100% successful. Some advertisers are still in contract but have indicated that they will not renew when the contract expires. They made the simple business decision that avoiding the argumentative and dubious host and his show was better for business than continuing their association with him. Media Matters has declined to publicly release the list of roughly one dozen advertisers who have left his show. When questioned about the flight of advertisers Fox News did not deny the losses instead opting not to comment
We will watch closely to see whether the trend continues and what impact advertisers dropping Hannity will have on the controversial host’s future.
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