CNN’s Stelter: If Maddow Was ‘Getting Secret Legal Advice From a Clinton Lawyer,’ Hannity Would Go Wild
In the wake of Fox News declaring that Sean Hannity continues to have their “full support” despite being “surprised” by Hannity’s “informal relationship” with Trump attorney Michael Cohen, CNN senior media correspondent Brian Stelter remarked that Hannity has “very few rules.” On top of that, Stelter noted that if the shoe were on the other foot with another media figure, Hannity would be indignant.
Telling anchor Brooke Baldwin that Hannity enjoys an “extreme amount of autonomy,” Stelter noted that while it is great for Hannity, he doesn’t think “it’s great for viewers” since the conservative commentator “doesn’t seem to have much oversight or much in the way of standards.”
“Now that we know about the Cohen raid and this legal relationship, it’s even more curious and more controversial,” he added. “I know Fox is trying to put a stop to this by expressing support for him but I think it going to continue to raise questions in the news industry about why Hannity is not held accountable at all.”
Baldwin then brought up how other newsrooms would likely suspend an employee over a situation like this and take the person off the air for a period of time.
“There would be some sort of action,” Stelter responded. “I don’t want to guess what it would be, but I do think there would be some sort of action at other outlets. What people want is consistency. What’s glaring here is inconsistency.”
He continued, “Imagine in a parallel universe that Hillary Clinton is president and Rachel Maddow was getting secret legal advice from the Clinton lawyer… If Maddow was under the microscope like that, Hannity would be going wild with it, he would be talking about it nonstop. What’s so frustrating to most Americans within these partisan wars is the lack of consistency, that Hannity would erupt if the shoe was on the other side — on the shoe were on the other foot.”
Watch the clip above, via CNN.
[image via screengrab]
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