I had a feeling that O'Reilly being leveraged out by MediaMatters targeting his advertisers was not the end of it. Now the second shoe is dropping:
Advertisers Begin to Pull Ads From Fox News' 'Hannity'
Paul Bond, The Hollywood Reporter
Sean Hannity has lost two advertisers - Cars.com and Peloton - presumably over his coverage of Seth Rich, a Democratic National Committee staffer who was murdered a year ago.
Cars.com did not respond to a request for comment, though it issued a statement to BuzzFeed saying that after "watching closely" it has decided it will no longer advertise on Hannity, the conservative host's show on the Fox News Channel.
Peloton, a purveyor of exercise bikes, tweeted its decision directly to Hannity, Fox News and others: "We directed our media agency to stop advertising on Sean Hannity's show. This will take a few days to take effect."
The two advertisers made their decision one day after Media Matters for America published an article calling Hannity "a bigot, a sexist, and a conspiracy theorist." The article didn't explicitly call for a boycott, though it listed more 100 companies that advertise on Hannity.
Critics say Hannity's coverage of Rich has been conspiratorial, given that authorities have called his death the result of a robbery gone wrong while Hannity has suggested he was killed because he may have leaked DNC emails to WikiLeaks.
Hannity said during his show Tuesday night that, out of respect to the Rich family, he would stop discussing the kiling on his show, though he emphasized he would not stop investigating the murder.
He followed his show with a series of tweets on the subject, including: "Ok TO BE CLEAR, I am closer to the TRUTH than ever. Not only am I not stopping, I am working harder. Updates when available. Stay tuned!"
Another tweet referenced conservative hosts from the past who have dealt with boycotts orchestrated by Media Matters. "Liberal fascism. Mmfa is targeting my advertisers to silence my voice. They hope to get me fired. Rush, O'Reilly, Beck, Imus, & now me."
In his reporting, Hannity has cited WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and notorious computer hacker Kim Dotcom, both of whom have insinuated that Rich may have been murdered for being a "whistleblower," as Assange put it, though neither of those sources have offered specifics or proof.
Fox News has also taken the unusual step of retracting a story that appeared at Foxnews.com May 16 that reported things very similar to what Hannity had been reporting on air, at least until Tuesday night's announcement that he would temporarily avoid the topic.
BuzzFeed said it has so far called 50 of Hannity's advertisers to ask them if they'll continue buy ads on the show.
According to BuzzFeed, the statement from Cars.com reads: "Car.com's media buy strategies are designed to reach as many consumers as possible across a wide spectrum of media channels. The fact that we advertise on a particular program doesn't mean that we agree or disagree, or support or oppose, the content. We don't have the ability to influence content at the time we make our advertising purchase. In this case, we've been watching closely and have recently made the decision to pull our advertising from Hannity."
Once the tactic of silencing conservative voices has borne fruit and worked on O'Reilly, now the formula is being repeated on Hannity.
God forbid liberals should face conservatives in an open dialogue. Liberals work best in the shadows, trying to shut down dissenting thought by deceitful means, harassing advertisers into not supporting conservative programs. Irony, that a source as loathesome as MediaMatters can slime and damage news outlets far more reputable and respectful of journalistic ethics such as O'Reilly, Hannity and Fox News.
