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For many years, Fox News’ ratings had been blowing competitors like CNN completely out of the water. So, it’s no surprise that CNN’s Reliable Sources host Brian Stelter would target them with accusations of ‘state-run media’ in the Trump-era. During Sunday’s edition of the show, Stelter equated the relationship between Trump and Fox News as a twisted “love story.” He even tried to re-write history by arguing there had “never” been anything like it in American Politics, which was not true.
Stelter began his whining by asking his audience: “Fox and Trump, Trump and Fox. You know they're close. But do you realize just how close?” He then declared, “[T]his kind of relationship has never existed between a U.S. president and a TV network. It. Is. Unprecedented.” “It's sort of a love story, so let me count the ways,” he mocked. But was it really “unprecedented”? No, Obama had many liberal media suitors trying to be his Fox News.
“First of all, the President loves Fox. He loves what he hears on Fox. He promotes the network and trashes its rivals,” Stelter huffed. But as with what usually happens when he crying about Trump’s criticism of the press, Stelter overlooked Obama’s efforts to expel Fox News from the White House press pool and how he refused to give them interviews.
The CNN host complained about Fox News getting most of the interviews with the President. He asserted that they had done the math and found he did an interview roughly every 20 days. “Now, some of these are not really interviews at all, they are more like chats, designed to promote his presidency,” he insisted. It’s hypocritical for Stelter to slam Fox News for “softball” interviews when many of Obama’s were the same way.
Stelter then set his sights on his favorite Fox News host to attack: Sean Hannity. “He defends Trump, bashes the media, turns a blind-eye to Trump world scandals,” he moaned. “And that's just on the air. When Hannity is off the air, he gossips with Trump and gives advice about who to hire.”
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