In an interview with TVNewser, Fox News White House correspondent Ed Henry addressed criticism of his network, saying that he believes many of the naysayers haven’t actually watched the successful cable news network.

Henry joined Fox in the summer of 2011, after a long stint as White House correspondent at CNN. While at the network, he said his questions often drew the ire of Bush administration officials, and he felt he was given limited access to the president as a result. Now at Fox, his questions have seemingly bothered the White House press secretary Jay Carney and from President Barack Obama.

“I do not take it personally,” he told TVNewser, “because I realize it’s just part of the job. An occupational hazard, I guess. You ask a tough question of the president, you throw him a hardball, you might get one back. I’m fine with that.”

Henry also explained that he takes very seriously the distinction between “hard news” and opinion programming, joking that when he runs into Fox News conservative host Sean Hannity he has to tell him: “Stay away from me! I’m not taking a picture with you!”

“I like him personally,” Henry said of Hannity, “but he’s got his thing at night. I’ve got my thing during the day.”

He also defended his network from a slew of hateful accusations: “So many people who criticize Fox News don’t watch Fox News.”

Even at his former network, he noticed a lot of criticism of Fox that may have been unfair: ”It’s been a crutch [for CNN staffers] to say that Fox has done well due to the ideology. It’s an easy out to say, ‘Oh, we’re not picking sides and that’s why we don’t have an audience.’”

Full interview here.

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