Sean Hannity isn’t the only Fox News anchor who takes his liquor seriously. In an interview with Cigars & Spirits magazine, “Special Report” anchor Bret Baier talks about how sharing cocktails with his political sources has helped his career:
I remember being on a number of different trips — I traveled to Iraq 12 times, Afghanistan I think 13 times — and being with a General or some type of commissioned officer and having a cigar and a cocktail. It’s definitely something that I can pinpoint. Those times when you are dealing with somebody that you’ve established a relationship with, being in the anchor or correspondent position is about the trust that they have in giving you information. They have to know that you’re not going to burn them and that you’re going to report stories fairly. Maybe not in the exact way that they want, but use the information in a way that is fair. That requires a bond, and sometimes to get that bond it takes some personal time, and so those moments of having a cocktail and smoking a cigar I think bond people more than other things.
Baier will be the morning keynote speaker at the TVNewser conference next month.