Donald Trump has publicly criticised Fox News for failing to sufficiently promote his presidency.
The US leader lashed out at the news channel in a series of angry tweets yesterday, saying that “Fox isn’t working for us anymore!” and urging his supporters to “start looking for a new News Outlet”.
Trump also claimed that Fox News was promoting the rival Democratic Party.
“Just watched @FoxNews heavily promoting the Democrats through their DNC Communications Director, spewing out whatever she wanted with zero pushback by anchor, @SandraSmithFox. Terrible considering that Fox couldn’t even land a debate, the Dems give them NOTHING!” he tweeted.
In another post, the US president lambasted the news channel as “HOPELESS & CLUELESS! They should go all the way LEFT and I will still find a way to Win – That’s what I do, Win. Too Bad!”
Responding to Trump’s online tirade, Fox News’ senior political analyst Brit Hume tweeted: “Fox News isn’t supposed to work for you.”
That message was emphasised by Guy Benson, a regular contributor to the channel, who repeated: “We don’t work for you.”
Fox has long been seen as an ally of the president and his administration. Indeed, 92% of Trump’s nationally televised interviews this year have been with Fox News or Fox Business, says the Media Matters think tank.
The president has been criticised for using news programme Fox & Friends as his first source for news, and his tweets often coincide with what he has seen on the morning programme, reports US news site Axios.
Following former White House press secretary Sarah Sanders’ move to Fox News earlier this month, The Guardian said that “Fox has become as much of a state propaganda outlet as RT is for Russia or PressTV is for Iran”.
And an article headlined “The making of the Fox News White House” published by The New Yorker earlier this year highlighted a number of links between Trump and channel.
However, while unexpected, Trump’s attack this week on the news outlet is by no means his first. In March, he asked in a tweet whether Fox News anchors Arthel Neville and Leland Vittert had been “trained by CNN prior to their ratings collapse”.
“In any event,” he added, “that’s where they should be working, along with their lowest rated anchor, Shepard Smith!”
