MSNBC Blasts Sean Hannity For Spreading Misinformation During Zimmerman Interview

Last updated on July 15th, 2013 at 03:55 pm

In a statement, MSNBC fired back at Sean Hannity for spreading misinformation during his interview with George Zimmerman.

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Transcript of Hannity and Zimmerman:

HANNITY: You know, look at what happened in this case because it became so public. Spike Lee is tweeting out what he thinks is your home address, the Reverend Al Sharpton and NBC News tries to use this case to bring up the issue of racial profiling.

What do you say to Spike Lee? Didn’t know the facts of the case, they hadn’t been revealed, what do you say to Al Sharpton and those who rushed to judgment? What do you think their motives were?

ZIMMERMAN: I can’t guess what their motives are. I would just ask for an apology. I mean, if I did something that was wrong, I would apologize.

MSNBC fired back with a statement,

“MSNBC would like to set the record straight following some misinformation presented by Fox News during the interview with George Zimmerman last night. Reverend Al Sharpton never “rushed to judgment,” as stated by Mr. Hannity. Reverend Sharpton repeatedly called for calm and for a more thorough investigation in the wake of the tragic events. Ultimately, the authorities agreed an arrest was warranted.”

What many people don’t realize is that many of the questions asked on Fox News are based on misinformation. In Hannity’s case, the questions themselves were misinformation. In the Zimmerman interview alone, Hannity brought up the Black Panthers, Spike Lee, Al Sharpton, and said that African-Americans in general had rushed to judgement.

Of course he didn’t have any actual facts, but that didn’t stop Hannity from claiming that NBC had an agenda, and so did other news outlets who brought up racial profiling. (Mind you, this Sean Hannity we are talking about. Every word that comes out of his mouth is spoken with the purpose of advancing an agenda.)

Equally as outrageous as George Zimmerman’s request that African-Americans apologize to him, was Sean Hannity’s misinformation and presumption that all African-Americans are out to get Zimmerman.

Hannity and Zimmerman were using each other. Zimmerman was trying to contaminate the jury pool, and Sean Hannity was trying to play up racial division by casting George Zimmerman as an unfair target of African-American rage.

Fox News and Hannity get away with this type of misinformation on a nightly basis. It was nice to see MSNBC call him out for once on being the serial propagandist that he is.

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association