One of the biggest stories in America are the behind the scenes changes at Fox News.
Viewers noticed subtle shifts in the tone of the network’s coverage.
But now Fox News made this one big change that could force Sean Hannity to quit.
Left-wing critics of Fox News often rip the network as “State TV” and routinely flag appearances by network personalities at Republican events as evidence.
In recent weeks, Fox News personalities Shannon Bream, Pete Hegseth, Jeanine Pirro and Gregg Jarrett canceled speaking engagements at Republican Party or conservative leaning organizations after left-wing critics flagged the events.
The Amazon Washington Post’s Paul Farhi reported on Fox cracking down on its on-air personalities taking part in political events.
“However, behind the scenes, the network appears to have to gone to considerable effort to stop its on-air personalities from promoting Republican events and causes. Network executives have intervened to cancel a long string of fundraising appearances that were to have featured Fox News figures, according to people at Fox, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe its internal operations,” Farhi wrote.
But the most high-profile target of this harassment campaign is Sean Hannity.
In 2018 Fox News reprimanded Hannity for appearing on stage at a Trump rally in Missouri during the 2018 midterm elections.
“Fox News does not condone any talent participating in campaign events,” a Fox News statement read. “We have an extraordinary team of journalists helming our coverage tonight and we are extremely proud of their work.”
That was not the first time Fox News cracked down on Hannity.
During the 2016 election, Hannity appeared in a campaign ad endorsing Donald Trump.
Fox News scolded Hannity in a statement to the fake news Daily Beast and declared nothing like that would ever happen again.
“We were not aware of Sean Hannity participating in a promotional video,” a Fox News spokesman told The Daily Beast, “and he will not be doing anything along these lines for the remainder of the election season.”
These attempts by Fox News to muzzle Hannity – as well as the network’s news programming anti-Trump turn – led to speculation Hannity would leave Fox News when his contract expires in 2021.
Vanity Fair’s Gabriel Sherman reported, “’Hannity told Trump last year that the Murdochs hate Trump, and Hannity is the only one holding Fox together,’ a source who heard the conversation told me. Hannity has told friends that he intends to leave Fox when his contract expires in early 2021, two people who’ve spoken with him said.”
Hannity is the star and centerpiece of Fox News Channel’s top rated lineup.
Fox News survived the loss of Bill O’Reilly after fake news CNN and the New York Times pressure campaign led advertisers to abandon his program on allegations of sexual misconduct.
But O’Reilly’s 2017 departure did not occur in the context of a larger shift in programming on Fox News.
If Sean Hannity decides to strike out on his own or at another conservative network in 2021 because Fox News is moving to the left, it could signal a mass exodus of both talent and viewers from the top-rated channel on cable news.
Great American Daily will keep you up to date on any new developments in this ongoing story.
