Fox News orders Sean Hannity not to broadcast from Tea Party

Fox News orders Sean Hannity not to broadcast from Tea Party

Conservative Fox News threw a big wet blanket on to talk show host Sean Hannity’s plans to broadcast his show at a Tea Party tax rally in Cincinnati Thursday night. Top Fox News brass learned that Hannity’s nightly show was turned into a fund-raising event by Tea Party organizers.

“Fox News never agreed to allow the Cincinnati Tea Party organizers to use Sean Hannity’s television program to profit from broadcasting his show from the event,” executive vice president Bill Shine told the Los Angeles Times.

“When senior executives in New York were made aware of this, we changed our plans for the show.” Rally organizers had listed Hannity as the headliner of a four-hour Tax Day rally that organizers hoped would draw as many as 13,000 people to the University of Cincinnati.

Participants were charged a minimum of $5, with seats near Hannity’s set going for $20, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer, which reported that any profits would go to future Tea Party events. Media Matters for America noted that Hannity’s personal website directed supporters to a link to buy tickets for the Cincinnati rally.

Fox News executives said they first learned of the event Thursday morning from John Finley, Hannity’s executive producer who was in Cincinnati to produce Hannity’s show. Furious, top officials recalled Hannity back to New York to do his show in his regular studio.

Critics of Fox News have accused the network of promoting the Tea Party even as it covers the political movement as a news story.