Saturday, October 21, 2017

Chris Wallace Prefers FNC Colleagues Not Attack Press


In an interview with the Associated Press this week, Fox News Sunday anchor Chris Wallace put his colleagues on blast for discrediting the press. As he puts it, whenever these media attacks are uttered on the air by an opinion host or commentator, that person should realize they are also essentially slamming Fox News reporters and journalists.

“It bothers me,” Wallace said in an interview. “If they want to say they like Trump, or that they’re upset with the Democrats, that’s fine. That’s opinion. That’s what they do for a living.

“I don’t like them bashing the media, because oftentimes what they’re bashing is stuff that we on the news side are doing. I don’t think they recognize that they have a role at Fox News and we have a role at Fox News. I don’t know what’s in their head. I just think it’s bad form.”

As president, Trump has given interviews to Fox News more than any other outlet, but he has favored Hannity and other supportive hosts like Jeanine Pirro and Jesse Watters. News anchors Wallace, Bret Baier and Shepard Smith and chief White House correspondent John Roberts have been shut out. Wallace spoke to Trump when he was president-elect.

“Ultimately, any White House decides who they want to go out and talk to,” Wallace said. “Would I rather they talk to me? Well, if that’s what they’re going to do, that’s what they’re going to do.”

But he said the White House has been fair in delivering other administration officials and, despite their boss’ attacks on the press, “the guests that are there are very professional and answer questions.”

Wallace said there were periods when the Obama administration did not keep “Fox News Sunday” on the same rotation with ABC, CBS and NBC shows in terms of offering interview subjects. President Obama went two years without giving Fox an interview before appearing with Wallace in April 2016.

With Fox News the preferred network for conservatives, journalists there will often hear it from viewers about stories that don’t toe a party line. Wallace told the AP he does, too, like when he hears grumbling about someone on his show who does battle with Trump, like Sen. John McCain.

For the most part, the people who recognize him on the street support his efforts to ask tough questions of everyone, he said.

No comments:

Post a Comment