Elite Media Cheer Koppel for Calling Hannity ‘Bad for America’

After former ABC News “Nightline” anchor Ted Koppel said he believed Fox News host Sean Hannity was “bad for America,” many members of the mainstream media came out in droves to cheer Koppel and slime Hannity.

Koppel, now a contributor for CBS, spoke with Hannity for a segment that aired Sunday on CBS’ “Sunday Morning” about the polarized state of American politics. In an attempt to defend the value of his work, Hannity said that Koppel was “cynical” because he could not “give some credit to the American people that they’re somewhat intelligent and that they know the difference between an opinion show and a news show.”

“I bet Sean Hannity’s been called a lot of outrageous things in his time, but journalist shouldn’t be one of them.”

“Do you think we’re bad for America? You think I’m bad for America?” Hannity asked Koppel.

Koppel responded, saying, “Yeah,” adding that Hannity and other talk show hosts are “very good at what you do” and have “attracted people who are determined that ideology is more important than facts.”

After the clip aired, it did not take long for elite pundits and reporters to celebrate the critique of Hannity.

“Sometimes one word is all you need,” tweeted John Heilemann, the co-managing editor of Bloomberg Politics and a political analyst for MSNBC, as he referred to Koppel’s one-word response to Hannity’s question.

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“Ted Koppel just told Sean Hannity he’s bad for America on CBS Sunday Morning and it’s LIT,” tweeted Steph Haberman, a former reporter for Mashable who also worked with NBC News and Sports Illustrated.

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“I bet Sean Hannity’s been called a lot of outrageous things in his time, but journalist shouldn’t be one of them,” tweeted Mike P. Williams, a writer for BuzzFeed and Yahoo, as well as a content producer for BBC.

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Trip Gabriel, a national correspondent at The New York Times, highlighted Koppel’s quote, “You have attracted people who have determined ideology is more important than facts,” in a tweet of his own.

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“Sean Hannity debating Ted Koppel about real journalism is like a 5-year-old debating his dad about the rules of the house,” tweeted Nick Jack Pappas, a writer for Medium, a senior content manager at Comedy Wire and a former reporter for The Salt Lake Tribune.

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Andy McDonald, a writer and editor for The Huffington Post, took the opportunity to tell Hannity that “2 minutes of your nonsense was more than enough.”

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Hannity himself fired back in a series of tweets.

“Fake ‘edited’ news. I did about a 45 minute interview with CBS. They ran less than 2. Why did Ted cut out my many examples of media bias?” Hannity began. “Fake ‘edited’ news. I gave a example [sic] after example of why I say ‘journalism is dead’. I also gave many examples of how liberalism has failed.”

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“‘Fake Edited News’ @CBSNews release the Unedited 45 minute interview so people can see the BS games you play in the edit room. I dare you!” Hannity continued. “If you pay attention Ted was saying ALL opinion shows are bad for America. But he was saying this while giving us HIS OPINION #hypocrisy.”

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In response to one Twitter user who said that “Hannity is bad for America. All of Fox News is bad for America. They are all lying media scum,” Hannity tweeted, “Interesting point of view. Do you want to throw me out of the country because u disagree with me? Put me in prison? Death penalty?”

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That particular tweet brought a response out of Jon Favreau, a former speechwriter for former President Obama. Favreau has since founded Crooked Media and co-hosts the podcast “Pod Save America.”

“No, sending someone out of the country because you disagree with him would make you a lunatic,” Favreau tweeted while including a link to a Newsmax story detailing how Hannity once offered to fly Obama “to the country of your choice” after his presidency concluded.

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