REPORT: FOX’S HANNITY RAISING MONEY FOR TEA PARTY

Fox News host Sean Hannity has as recently as Wednesday and on at least three other occasions solicited donations for the conservative group Tea Party Patriots, the Huffington Post reported on Thursday. Although the conservative host has frequently voiced his support for the group on his Fox News telecast, he was reprimanded by the network in 2010 after a Cincinnati branch of the Tea Party announced that Hannity would be participating in a fund-raising event that would air on his primetime show. At the time, Bill Shine, the network’s programming chief, said, “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.” The Huffington Post also observed that Hannity remarked on his Fox News program on Wednesday, “The Tea Party Patriots are partners on my radio show.” But it was not clear what the nature of the partnership was. Fox News responded that Hannity’s involvement with the Tea Party group is for his radio show, and has nothing to do with his FNC show or role with the network. In 2010 Keith Olbermann was suspended by MSNBC after the network learned that he had made political contributions to three Democratic candidates.