CNN’s Brian Stelter criticized the relationship between President Trump and Fox News, saying the close connection is completely without precedent and ought to be seen as unusual.
Using the opportunity to also critique the rival news netowrk, Stelter said the whole dynamic was “new and weird, and we shouldn’t get used to it.” The inception of the positive relationship between Fox News and Trump, Stelter said, was in Fox News’ decision to give Trump a regular spot on its shows back in 2011.
“He’s tweeted or retweeted about Fox more than a thousand times.” Stelter said, citing the President’s long-term friendship with Fox mogul Rupert Murdoch. “The two men now talk weekly, sometimes daily.”
For Stelter, what he sees as proof of the codependency between the network and the president is what he described as the “feedback loop.”
“Trump constantly gets idea and talking points from Fox, and then when he has his rallies he repeats those taking points, and Fox airs those rallies live from start to finish,” Stelter said.
[Trump: Twitter should delete New York Times, Washington Post in midst of crackdown on fake accounts]
“No TV host has ever had this kind of relationship with a US president before … Sure, Obama had big fans on MSNBC, but … no one ever thought Keith Olbermann was Obama’s ‘shadow Chief of Staff'”: @BrianStelter on the relationship between Trump and Fox’s Hannity pic.twitter.com/C46vYLryA8
— Reliable Sources (@ReliableSources) July 8, 2018
An Associated Press report last week explored the disparate coverage of the president’s rallies by Fox News and other news networks. While critics say Fox News is giving free and unrestricted coverage in a midterm year, the network defended itself by saying the rallies are newsworthy.
Trump often calls news outlets that publish negative press about himself or his administration “fake news.” CNN is among that list. Conversely, Trump often advertises what he sees on Fox News on Twitter, and mainly sticks to Fox News for exclusive interviews.
Stelter also slammed the relationship between Trump and Fox News host Sean Hannity, with whom the president has been close for quite some time. New York Magazine reported earlier this year that the two often talk on the phone.
“When Hannity’s off the air, he gossips with Trump and gives advice about who to hire,” Stelter said. “No network has ever propped up a president quite like this before. Sure, Obama had big fans on MSNBC, but there wasn’t this kind of coordination. No one ever thought Keith Olbermann was Obama’s ‘shadow chief of staff.’ But that’s how some Trump advisers describe Hannity.”
Hannity came under fire in April after reports surfaced that showed he had been a client of Trump’s longtime personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, but had not previously revealed the connection to his viewers.
