Many critics of Fox News settling its defamation lawsuit with Dominion Voting Systems lamented that the cable network wouldn’t be outed for its lack of journalism. Fox News host Sean Hannity argued that those same people who believe they are journalists aren’t.
During his nationally syndicated radio show, The Sean Hannity Show host told Bill O’Reilly that media members operate inside an echo chamber, and believed his role as a quasi-media ombudsman was imperative.
“What we do, I believe, is important because the media really is a mob. I call them the media mob because they have a mob mindset, a mob mentality, and they follow each other,” Hannity said.
“They got this blue checkmark quote journalist cult, which is anything but journalism, and they all talk to each other in a bubble,” continued Hannity. “They all think that they’re journalists, and they’re not, Bill. They’re not.”
The statements from Hannity echo statements O’Reilly has previously made about the way news organizations now operate. O’Reilly quoted a study from Arizona State University that showed the majority of news executives believe journalists should put objectivity aside in favor of personal perspectives and experiences based on race.
He argued news executives don’t understand the purpose of journalism.
“We’re all the same, supposed to be establishing the truth by establishing facts…and then reporting that fact to you,” O’Reilly previously argued. “Not looking at it through a prism of color. That’s insane. But that’s what these people want, the big people who control corporate media.”
