Hannity

Hannity
File:Hannity Banner 09.jpg Hannity Banner from FoxNews.com
Genre	Political program
Presented by	Sean Hannity
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
Production
Production location	New York City
Camera setup	Presumably multi-camera
Running time	60 minutes
Production company	Fox News Channel
Original release
Network	Fox News Channel
Release	December 1, 2008 – present

Hannity is a television show on the Fox News network, a replacement to the long-running show Hannity & Colmes. It is hosted by political pundit Sean Hannity.

Following the announcement on November 25, 2008 that Alan Colmes would leave the show, it was decided that the show would simply be entitled Hannity.

On the rationale for the new program, Fox News Senior Vice President Bill Shine has stated:

Sean is one of the top television and radio personalities in the business and we're excited to be working with him on this venture. When Alan Colmes left us with a void last month, we decided to build a new program utilizing Sean's signature talents rather than take on the monumental task of replacing someone as exceptional as Alan and attempting to rebuild a rare chemistry that is unlikely to ever be matched in cable television again.

The show's format consists of Hannity interviewing guests and providing his own commentary. The show's other features include the "Hate Hannity Hotline", a segment in which the host airs and reacts to the recorded telephone messages of viewers who dislike him or disagree with him.

The first guest on Hannity was former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich. Hannity featured an exclusive interview with Don Imus during his premiere week. During the second week, conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh appeared in an exclusive two-part interview about the future of the conservative movement and the newly inaugurated President Barack Obama.

Criticism

The factual accuracy of multiple statements and video used by Hannity have been called into question by media watchdog groups and major media outlets:

On 18 June 2009, when discussing the government’s “Cash for Clunkers” program that gave financial incentives to consumers who traded in older vehicles for new, fuel efficient ones, Hannity said "..all we've got to do is ... go to a local junkyard, all you've got to do is tow it to your house. And you're going to get $4,500.” The nonpartisan Politifact watchdog group called that claim false because the program as proposed and passed, required that the vehicle must be in "drivable condition" and the trade-in had to have been "continuously insured consistent with the applicable state law and registered to the same owner for a period of not less than one year immediately prior to such trade-in."

Additionally, Hannity has been criticized for his coverage of the drought afflicting California's Central Valley in 2009 due to the deactivation of the local water pumps for the safety of the Delta smelt fish, which is on the endangered species list, despite the fact that there have been multiple causes for the drought and that the water pumps were re-activated in June 2009, while Hannity continued his coverage of the drought and issued demands to the Obama Administration to "turn the water on" for several months after the pumps reactivation.

External links

• Hannity at IMDb