“I am not told what to say,” Sean Hannity once told his audience. “We have always been independent, follow our own path on this show.” It’s not clear who believes this, but somebody does or, at least, is supposed to.
And so it is at least mildly amusing, though hardly a shock, that CNN’s trove of texts to and from Donald Trump’s White House chief of staff Mark Meadows include Hannity being told directly what to say:
Sean Hannity to Mark Meadows
NC gonna be ok?
Mark Meadows to Sean Hannity
Stress every vote matters. Get out and vote
Mark Meadows to Sean Hannity
On radio
Sean Hannity to Mark Meadows
Yes sir
Sean Hannity to Mark Meadows
On it. Any place in particular we need a push
Mark Meadows to Sean Hannity
Pennsylvania. NC AZ
Mark Meadows to Sean Hannity
Nevada
Sean Hannity to Mark Meadows
Got it. Everywhere
As subject matter goes, this is innocuous stuff. Hannity is simply being told what states he needs to encourage Republicans to turn out to vote and in what format he should do so.
Opinion journalists do not follow the same ethical guidelines as straight-news reporters, but the job does have guidelines. You are supposed to be helping your audience understand the world. It is okay for an opinion journalist to talk to people they cover, but those conversations should be informative, not used for the purpose of conveying orders.
Hannity, of course, has long flouted any semblance of journalistic ethics. He’s appeared in Republican ads and spoken at rallies. He even served as a back channel between Trump and Paul Manafort, encouraging the president’s criminal former campaign manager and partner of a Russian intelligence agent to keep his mouth shut rather than cut a deal with federal prosecutors.
Hannity’s absolutely hackish fealty to the Republican party, and his willingness to change his line from day to day to serve that end, is obvious to any remotely intelligent observer (a category that rules out most of his audience). What’s instructive about this exchange is the familiarity and tone. Hannity casually describes the Trump campaign as “we.” Both men simply assume Hannity’s job is to amplify whatever message the White House gives him. Hannity’s response, “Yes sir,” captures the nature of the relationship in two syllables.
