Media

Hannity presses CBS to release unedited footage from Koppel interview

by Joe Concha - 03/28/17 9:25 AM ET

Fox News host Sean Hannity on Monday slammed CBS News for not releasing all unedited footage of his interview with CBS’s Ted Koppel that included the veteran newsman saying that Hannity is “bad for America.”

Hannity called the full interview a “very good, substantive give and take” that lasted 50 minutes. CBS aired 70 seconds of the interview on “CBS Sunday Morning.”

“I don’t pretend that I’m fair, balanced and objective. You do,” Hannity said Monday on Fox in a comment aimed at Koppel, the former face of ABC’s “Nightline” for decades.

“You exposed yourself as agenda-driven [and] hypocritical,” he continued before repeating his longtime mantra that “journalism is dead.”

“If you … have the courage, release the entire unedited footage — let America decide,” Hannity urged the network.

{mosads}CBS has not commented on whether the full transcript or footage will be released.

The segment that aired on “CBS Sunday Morning” showed Hannity telling Koppel that Americans know how to differentiate news from opinion, which his Fox show is.

“We have to 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,” Hannity said, calling Koppel “cynical.”

“Yeah,” Koppel responded in agreement.

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

“Yeah,” Koppel said. “In the long haul, I think you and all these opinion shows” are.

Hannity told Koppel it was “sad” he felt that way.

“No, you know why? Because you’re very good at what you do,” Koppel said, adding: “You have attracted people who are determined that ideology is more important than facts.”

Hannity said ending the edited version of the interview with that comment without his response made him “look like a liar.”

Hannity frequently says he’s a talk show host and opinion maker and “not a journalist.”

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