Even before Hannity and co. kicked things into overdrive last year, Fox News was no stranger to spring break coverage. “Dangers lurk in some spring break destinations,” warned a piece that ran in March 2011. “Online magazine ranks 2013’s trashiest spring break destinations,” announced a post in the Fox News travel section. And, funny enough, there’s a slideshow hosted on Fox News from March 2012 that praises and lists “totally wild and trashy spring break spots,” including an all-inclusive resort that “is great for horny, under-21 set who are looking to get down, dirty, and drink.” (Someone should tell Sean.)
Hannity’s more recent campaign against the dark forces of springtime reveling has actually produced change, for better or for worse. Last year’s investigation into partying, half-naked college kids sparked an official review of the city’s spring break policies. Authorities subsequently changed bar closing hours (bumping it up from 4 a.m. to 2 a.m.) and started requiring ID for consuming alcohol on the beach, and made some changes to enforcement. “We were shown as being [a] lawless place that you can just come and do anything and none of us liked that,” Mayor Gayle Oberst told The Washington Post last week, when asked about Hannity.
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