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O'Reilly Finally Plays Defense For News Corp.; Hannity Still Silent

July 20, 2011 2:18 am ET by Todd Gregory

After weeks of ignoring News Corp.'s phone hacking scandal, Bill O'Reilly finally covered the issue on his show last night. His coverage consisted of a report from Amy Kellogg, who has been reporting on the topic for Fox News from London, and a discussion with Heritage Foundation senior fellow Nile Gardiner:

In all, the segment ran for about seven minutes, and O'Reilly used most of the discussion with Gardiner to spin the scandal away. (O'Reilly falsely claimed that there hasn't been any "intrusion of this story thus far on News Corp. properties" in the U.S. In reality, Les Hinton, CEO of News Corp.'s Dow Jones division, resigned as a result of the fallout.)

Meanwhile, Sean Hannity ignored the scandal on his Fox News show yet again. Since the story escalated over the Fourth of July weekend, Hannity hasn't mentioned it at all.

Tags: Bill O'Reilly, Fox News Channel, The O'Reilly Factor, Sean Hannity, Hannity, News Corp., NewsCorp Outrages, Phone Hacking Scandal

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    • Author by ThomasJH268 (July 20, 2011 2:25 am ET)
      21  
      The only reason Hamster hasn't mentioned the News Corp scandal is there aren't any Obama staff involved
      Report Abuse
      • Author by Bad News (July 20, 2011 8:42 am ET)
        7 6
        Why Hasn't Bill O'Reilly Asked For an FBI Investigation?
        Didn't he Sic The FBI on ACORN & didn't he do it without Hesitation?
        Billo is a Powerful Guy, it breaks my little heart to watch him Kiss his Boss's Ass.
        Calling Billo a "Hamster" is meant to be a joke, similar to the one about the snake in the grass.

        Speak truth to power.


        Mr. News
        Report Abuse
        • Author by Ardiva (July 20, 2011 12:38 pm ET)
          2  
          Hannity = Hamster not Billo
          Report Abuse
          • Author by Bad News (July 20, 2011 1:05 pm ET)
            4 2
            Ardiva, Thank you for Catching my Mistake.
            When i'm in the wrong i'll admit it & my Punishment i will Take.
            Sometimes in my Eagerness to stick it to Billo the Clown i move a little too fast.
            In the future i will endeavor to improve & i truly hope that this Retraction will be my last.

            Speak truth to power.


            Mr. News
            Report Abuse
            • Author by bemusedly (July 20, 2011 5:55 pm ET)
              3  
              Your Verses are Atrocious. They're a Crime
              Against the very Notion of meter, Wit, and Rhyme.
              You've written more Lame poems than Hannity's told Lies--
              It's for writing like a Hack that you should Apologize.

              Speak truth to lame versifiers.
              Mr. Bemusedly
              Report Abuse
    • Author by pete592 (July 20, 2011 2:26 am ET)
      12  
      I will give Bill-O props for at least touching it with a 10-foot falafel.
      Report Abuse
    • Author by ukobserver (July 20, 2011 2:56 am ET)
      4  
      Nile Gardiner was the pointman for smears against Kojo Annan (son of former UN chief Kofi Annan) in the Oil For Food boondoggle which amazingly ignored the majority of perpetrators who happened to be American companies to narrowly focus on those anti war people like Annan and George Galloway (who gave Norm Colman a severe b*tchslapping at a Senate hearing).

      His sterilng work lead to The Sunday Times paying a large out of court settlement to Annan for defamation which is probably why he now works at The Telegraph!!
      Report Abuse
    • Author by handsomejack54 (July 20, 2011 3:17 am ET)
      7  
      I'm actually curious as to why Hannity hasn't found some way to link Obama to the investigation. Hannity does this, he can then start whining about the Obama administration waging war against Fox News, and the call Obama a crybaby once again (projection much?).
      It looks like calling Obama a crybaby is Hannity's new meme.
      Report Abuse
      • Author by handsomejack54 (July 20, 2011 3:18 am ET)
        2  
        *then call
        Report Abuse
        • Author by kamrom (July 20, 2011 3:51 am ET)
          10  
          Hannity's behavior is pathetic. He's laughably transparent...He's trying to get his grubby clamy hands on some of the Beck worshippers who don't know how to use a radio or an internets tube.

          not to be confused with an inner tube, which is the thing that makes water parks look like bowls of fruit loops from above.
          Report Abuse
          • Author by newzhound (July 20, 2011 11:48 am ET)
            1  
            According to the most recent newsletter from Jim Hightower, Sheer uh "Am i uh An Idiot?" uh InSannnity's radio audience has declined 28%.

            No surprise.
            Report Abuse
      • Author by gg (July 20, 2011 9:21 am ET)
        3  
        Hannity is busy looking for a way to blame all this on Bill Clinton, I mean he was in England in the late 60's. Coincidence, I don't think so.
        Now that is the way to get little Glennie's acolytes.
        Report Abuse
    • Author by IRONY 101 (July 20, 2011 7:17 am ET)
      7  
      While Hannity obviously doesn't think there's anything wrong with hacking the cell phone of a missing girl in order to get a scoop on a story, he would prefer to make up a story rather than obtain one illegally.
      Report Abuse
      • Author by MiddleAmerica (July 20, 2011 7:31 am ET)
          22
        "Hannity obviously doesn't think there's anything wrong with hacking the cell phone of a missing girl" - when has Hannity said anything even remotely close to this? Are you making up a story to attack your political "enemy"?

        Report Abuse
        • Author by IRONY 101 (July 20, 2011 7:45 am ET)
          18  
          Then why hasn't Hannity denounced News of the World? Hannity calls himself a journalist...why isn't he outraged at this egregious lack of journalistic ethics?
          Report Abuse
          • Author by MiddleAmerica (July 20, 2011 8:03 am ET)
            1 21
            Everyone knows Hannity is a partisan pundit, not a journalist.

            Report Abuse
            • Author by IRONY 101 (July 20, 2011 8:08 am ET)
              20  
              Everyone but perhaps Hannity himself. I have heard Hannity refer to himself as a journalist on multiple occasions. If Hannity considers himself a journalist then why isn't he outraged by, and spoken out against, the serious lack of journalistic ethics displayed by News of the World. His silence suggests that Hannity is apparently comfortable with NotW's methods...
              Report Abuse
              • Author by MiddleAmerica (July 20, 2011 9:42 am ET)
                  13
                Rush probably thinks he's a journalist as well.

                Report Abuse
                • Author by The New Pilgrims (July 20, 2011 11:22 am ET)
                  3  
                  Actually, Rush thinks he was formerly the lead singer in Katrina and The Waves.
                  Report Abuse
                • Author by highlyunlikely (July 20, 2011 2:06 pm ET)
                  1  
                  I don't think so, but that's what his fans believe.
                  Report Abuse
            • Author by cst (July 20, 2011 9:46 am ET)
              8  
              [Everyone knows Hannity is a partisan pundit, not a journalist.]

              Absolutely. I assume you'll acknowledge that about him in all future posts.
              Heck, if you admit Fox ITSELF is all partisan and no journalism, I'll give you a thumbs-up!
              Report Abuse
              • Author by MiddleAmerica (July 20, 2011 1:19 pm ET)
                  3
                "Absolutely. I assume you'll acknowledge that about him in all future posts" - no problem, but will come to his defense when lies are stated about him.

                "if you admit Fox ITSELF is all partisan and no journalism, I'll give you a thumbs-up!" - sorry, a few programs/hosts are fair & balanced.

                FWIW, I rarely watch Fox.


                Report Abuse
                • Author by highlyunlikely (July 20, 2011 2:08 pm ET)
                  1  
                  in which Boulderhippy, as always, retreats into defend-the-cons mode after having stipulated to a liberal point. He will never learn that it just doesn't work that way.
                  Report Abuse
              • Author by mari2jj (July 21, 2011 1:26 am ET)
                2  
                I am a life long moderate Republican and I suggest we all settle on the handle for Hannity, ie "Partisan Hack".
                Report Abuse
            • Author by bintx (July 20, 2011 10:27 am ET)
              7 1
              No, Hannity is a bald-faced liar who says whatever he is told to say to keep his job. If a so-called "liberal" organization offered him enough money, he'd become as progressive or more than jjamele. It's all about the money to Hannity. He'll lie for anybody.
              Report Abuse
        • Author by blk-in-alabam (July 20, 2011 9:37 am ET)
          5 1
          Sean Hannity has bragged on his show numerous times that he has sources of information close to the White House that can not be found,no matter how hard they look,or who they look at.Could his source be phone hacking???.......Not saying that Sean Hannity is a phone hacker.But I don't think he would have any problem using information from a contractor........Hannity may be working on an immunity deal.......Hannity has said on his show when he has legal issues.He hires a lawyer,and wait on a call that the coast is clear.Like he is doing with legal issues from his involvement in the Sean Hannity Oliver North Freedon Concert Scam" that sells dead USA soldiers blood
          Report Abuse
          • Author by cst (July 20, 2011 9:49 am ET)
            2  
            He's shown he's UNETHICAL enough to use phone-hacking... but his "information" would be a LOT more accurate if he WAS doing it.
            Report Abuse
            • Author by blk-in-alabam (July 20, 2011 9:56 am ET)
              2  
              Hannity job is to tell lies to counter the truth.His use of hacking information would not be searching for truths to tell
              Report Abuse
    • Author by magnolialover (July 20, 2011 7:25 am ET)
      2  
      You can't expect them to bit the hands that feed them right?
      Report Abuse
    • Author by magnolialover (July 20, 2011 7:26 am ET)
      6  
      Let's look at this differently.

      Imagine, if you will, MSNBC was implicated in a phone hacking scandal of this magnitude.

      It would be WALL to WALL non stop stories about how evil and bad MSNBC is.
      Report Abuse
    • Author by MiddleAmerica (July 20, 2011 7:29 am ET)
      1 25
      Kudos to O'Reilly for covering the story in a fair & balanced manner.
      Report Abuse
      • Author by teh.stoopid.lib (July 20, 2011 7:44 am ET)
        19 1
        A little early in the morning to be drunk, isn't it?
        Report Abuse
      • Author by markslp7013 (July 20, 2011 7:51 am ET)
        4  
        I agree....certainly in the Fox mode of 'fair & balanced.'
        Report Abuse
      • Author by IRONY 101 (July 20, 2011 7:53 am ET)
        12  
        Except that O'Reilly was wrong about the story not affecting any News Corp. U.S. properties. Isn't getting a story right, stating the facts correctly, a major component of fair and balanced coverage?
        Report Abuse
      • Author by cst (July 20, 2011 9:54 am ET)
        6  
        [Kudos to O'Reilly for covering the story in a fair & balanced manner.]

        And by "fair and balanced", you mean he's covered it WITH THE EXACT SAME BIAS AS EVERYTHING ELSE ON FOX NEWS.
        Report Abuse
      • Author by PurpleState (July 20, 2011 11:32 am ET)
        3  
        Constantly providing one side of a story is not "balanced". It's "balancing".
        Report Abuse
      • Author by mari2jj (July 21, 2011 1:29 am ET)
           
        HAHAHAHAHAHA, a real joke!
        Report Abuse
    • Author by DAWUSS (July 20, 2011 8:50 am ET)
      5 2
      I thought for sure that Sean Hannity would have lined up an interview with James Murdoch, and the former could ask softballs to the latter for virtually the whole show.
      Report Abuse
    • Author by draftedin68 (July 20, 2011 12:08 pm ET)
      3  
      Edit... KA-THUMP! Edit, edit... KA-THUMP!

      With a new shoe dropping at least once a day, it's probably been a challenge for Roger Ailes to write (and re-write) BO's scripts when he has to consider:

      - What did Rupert say today?
      - What did Rupert's kid(s) say today?
      - Who was arrested today?
      - Who resigned today?
      - What do the lawyers have to say?
      - Who was found dead today?

      Report Abuse
    • Author by Nihilist (July 20, 2011 12:09 pm ET)
      5  
      and of course billo blames the NYT for reporting on this. and the NYT had the audacity to put it on their front-page!....

      typical obfuscation of the right.

      ailes rule #1, when you dont have the facts, smear...............
      Report Abuse
      • Author by MiG (July 20, 2011 12:24 pm ET)
        2  
        More like "You don't need facts, just smear..."
        Report Abuse
      • Author by draftedin68 (July 20, 2011 12:26 pm ET)
        1  

        It is perfectly clear that the first four steps in Roger Ailes' How To Report on Bad News for News Corporation are:

        1 ... Duck
        2 ... Dodge
        3 ... Bob
        4 ... Weave

        Report Abuse
    • Author by FNC Liberal (July 20, 2011 12:15 pm ET)
      1  
      Why Sean is silent? The truth will come out and you won't be surprised by it.
      Report Abuse
    • Author by time to fight back (July 20, 2011 1:34 pm ET)
      1  
      A story about hacking by News corp hacks...gotta love the irony in that no?
      Report Abuse
    • Author by Kidney Bean (July 20, 2011 1:39 pm ET)
        6
      The MMFA hit site just keeps on plucking a dead chicken. Nothing new here. Preaching to the choir as usual.
      Report Abuse
      • Author by draftedin68 (July 20, 2011 2:06 pm ET)
        3  

        Rovian Dictionary, page 372

        hit - making a point using someone's exact words.

        Report Abuse
      • Author by highlyunlikely (July 20, 2011 2:10 pm ET)
        1  
        KB's style is to pick battles. He fails to consider that ridicule unceremoniously knocks them out of the way.
        Report Abuse
      • Author by mari2jj (July 21, 2011 1:34 am ET)
        1  
        Actually every honest Republican should be outraged at the disgusting antics of Fox News. Lies are actually non partisan since they are so readily told by both parties and even some others besides Dems and Repubs. But make no mistake, unless one lives in Pollyannaville, all would have to admit that the Rupert crowd tells as many or even many more whoppers as any other group.
        Report Abuse

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