Inside the Fox News lie machine: I fact-checked Sean Hannity on Obamacare - Salon.com
I happened to turn on the Hannity show on Fox News last Friday evening. ‘Average Americans are feeling the pain of Obamacare and the healthcare overhaul train wreck,’ Hannity announced, ‘and six of them are here tonight to tell us their stories.’ Three married couples were neatly arranged in his studio, the wives seated and the men standing behind them, like game show contestants. As Hannity called on each of them, the guests recounted their ‘Obamacare’ horror stories: canceled policies, premium hikes, restrictions on the freedom to see a doctor of their choice, financial burdens upon their small businesses and so on.
I decided to hit the pavement. I tracked down Hannity’s guests, one by one, and did my own telephone interviews with them.
I don’t doubt that these six individuals believe that Obamacare is a disaster; but none of them had even visited the insurance exchange. And some of them appear to have taken actions (Paul Cox, for example) based on a general pessimistic belief about Obamacare. He’s certainly entitled to do so, but Hannity is not entitled to point to Paul’s behavior as an “Obamacare train wreck story” and maintain any credibility that he might have as a journalist.
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