What the Sean Hannity-Donald Trump Connection Can Mean for News Media?
By Arthur Sun
Sean Hannity is an anchor for Fox News and is a client of Trump’s Lawyer, Michael Cohen.
Michael Cohen, or Trump’s lawyer, was raided by the FBI on Monday, April 9th, 2018. Since then, a lot of sensitive information has emerged regarding the political situation surrounding Trump and his lawyer. In court, Michael Cohen was required to reveal his clients to the judge. Even though he attempted to avoid that by citing attorney-client privilege, the judge ruled invalid, and made him name the clients. The clients named where Elliott Broidy, Donald Trump, and Sean Hannity. Elliott Broidy and Donald Trump are both known clients of Michael Cohen, but when Sean Hannity was named, it was a political bombshell, causing gasps and hushes throughout the courtroom.
Sean Hannity is a famous Fox News anchor and talk show host. Fox News for those unaware, is a station that is recognized as having a moderate right-wing-bias. Fox News can often be seen praising Trump’s actions, as well as criticizing the Obama administration for its actions. After Sean Hannity’s name was revealed in correlation with Elliott Broidy, Donald Trump, and Michael Cohen, people suspected Sean Hannity of having secret third-party interests. Hannity denied the allegations, saying “Let me set the record straight, here’s the truth: Michael Cohen has never represented me in any legal matter.” Despite Sean Hannity denying any allegations of wrongdoing and stating that he has no third party influences, it is indeed apparent that there were behind the scenes meetings between Trump and Hannity.
This can be seen in that after his name was revealed, it was also uncovered that he purchased as a slew of real estate, including two large apartments in Georgia obtained using loans obtained from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, or the HUD, a government agency. Although the loans were obtained during the Obama Administration, 2012-2016, they experienced a $5 million dollar increase in loans during the Trump Administration, according to Guardian.
However, what can the aforementioned information mean for news media as a whole? Sean Hannity could have intended for his information of the loans obtained during 2014 to be covered up and hidden by the incoming Trump organization. It also could be that he intended to support Trump by broadcasting positive things about him and his policies in exchange for those benefits. What this could mean is that Fox News could be viewed as more of a false source by the general population, but probably won’t affect the right-wing Republican viewer base that watches Fox News. This will more likely be the case as Fox News will most likely frame the loans as another fault of the Obama administration, as the deal originated during his term in office. However, I do believe that this scandal, along with the other “fake news scandals” would make the American public as a whole more skeptical of their news agencies. This is because there could be some behind the scenes deals that Hillary Clinton and the democratic party could have made with the CBS, CNN, ABC, and other news agencies. However, as with many things about politics in the world, much remains to be seen about this story as new details are still developing and being revealed.
Bibliography
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/04/23/sean-hannity-real-estate-545637
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/16/business/media/sean-hannity-michael-cohen-client.html
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By: Arthur Sun,
The following is a transc of my interview with Mr. Gantman. Mr. Gantman is an English teacher who teaches both 7th and 8th graders. He also ran the yearbook production this year. The purpose of this interview was to find out more about the yearbook as well as about Mr. Gantman in general.
Arthur: The price of the yearbook is $35, correct?
Mr. Gantman: Yes
A: How many pages long is the yearbook?
G: 116 Pages long
A: In your opinion, what is the most unique thing about the yearbook in general?
G: The 50th edition.
A: Who is printing the yearbook, and why did you choose them?
G: The Josten Yearbook Company is printing them, as we used them in the past, and they are a good company.
A: How is the yearbook going to be laid out? May I see a draft of the book?
G: We sent the book to the printing company, but hopefully the yearbook would be out this friday. They are most likely boxing them while we speak.
A: Tell me yourself, and your class, Mr. Gantman
G: I graduated from UCLA and Pepperdine, with a major in Screenwriting and education. I teach 7th Grade and 8th Grade English, which I really enjoy as they are all really good and outstanding kids. They all bring a new energy to the job.
A: What was your most memorable experience about the entire yearbook process up to this point?
G: I really enjoyed the amount of teamwork shown in this process, as there was really excellent teamwork among the students, administrators, and the printing company. So, yeah, teamwork was key in producing the yearbook.
A: Any last things that you would like to add before we end?
G: Lawrence is a really good school to work at. You, the students, are key in our job as a teacher, you all bring energy and excitement to our school.
The Rise and Fall of Bill Cosby
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By Alex Nguyen
William Henry Cosby Jr., more popularly known as the infamous Bill Cosby, was a famous star known for his roles in I Spy, and The Bill Cosby Show. All throughout the 1970s, Cosby had starred in about half a dozen films. His career was on fire, and he also made appearances in multiple of his own sitcoms. But amid 2010, his reputation was about to plummet. Cosby had received charges for multiple accounts of assault, and the man people knew to be America’s dad, was now known as the disgraced comic.
In his early life, Cosby grew up Philadelphia being born as one of the four sons of Anna Pearl and William Henry Cosby Jr., who was a mess steward in the navy. Cosby attended Mary Channing Wister Public School where he was captain of both the basketball team and the track and field team. His teachers noted that he spent more time clowning around than being focused on his studies. Later on at Germantown High School, Cosby ended up failing the 10th grade. But instead of repeating, Cosby dropped out and worked as an apprentice in a shoe repair shop. Cosby enlisted in the navy in 1956, working as a hospital corpsman in Virginia, Canada, and Maryland. Eventually, through correspondence courses, Cosby received his high school equivalency diploma. He was also later offered a scholarship to Temple University.
After leaving Temple University, Cosby had begun to pursue a career in stand up comedy. Cosby scored a line of jobs taking place in Philadelphia, and New York City where he made an appearance at The Gaslight Cafe. Later on, he eventually booked dates for shows in major cities such as Las Vegas, San Francisco, and Chicago. After being a guest of The Tonight Show on NBC, Cosby was exposed to fame and landed a recording contract with major studio Warner Bros. Records. And in 1964, Cosby dropped his debut LP titled Bill Cosby is a Very Funny Fellow… Right!. Americans often questioned why race wasn’t a present factor in Cosby’s humor, and when asked, he stated that the wanted his point of view to align with say a white man listening to Cosby. But while doing stand up comedy, Cosby was also doing acting. I Spy was one of Cosby’s major roles, where he starred alongside Robert Culp. I Spy was the first weekly television series to star an African-American actor. Not only was he acting AND doing stand up comedy, but Cosby showed to be a regular host on The Tonight Show. The Bill Cosby Show and Fat Albert also reigned as some of his successes. The Bill Cosby Show’s ratings were phenomenal, and finished eleventh only during its first season. Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids was a Saturday morning cartoon hosted by Cosby himself and was based off of his childhood. The reigning success of his career was The Cosby Show. Cosby himself was very involved with the making of it, as he was pitching ideas to the writers and some of the show’s plots were direct parallels to Cosby’s life. His acting and stand up career was on fire.
Women began to come forward with their stories of Cosby harassing them. There were numerous amounts of women, however, Cosby denied all allegations and when asked about them, his response was “I don’t talk about it”. Evidently, companies began to sever all ties with Cosby as a way to maintain their reputations. Up to 25 colleges and universities rescinded his honorary degrees. Cosby has 8 civil suits against him, as of November 2015. In Cosby’s testimony, he admitted to some of the actions that he denied in the past. Cosby’s June 2017 trial ended in a mistrial, and his re-trial by jury in April 2018, led him to being found guilty of three counts of aggravated indecent assault.
The story of Bill Cosby is one that begins with him as an icon, and him being “America’s dad”. Many people grew up watching him from the half dozen films he appeared in, and not to mention, his own shows. But when one woman came forward with her story, so did the others. Cosby’s is not a good role model anymore.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/26/us/bill-cosby-trial/index.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Cosby
http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-30194819
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