President Trump taunted the media Tuesday night with a mysterious announcement of “the most dishonest & corrupt media awards.”
“I will be announcing THE MOST DISHONEST & CORRUPT MEDIA AWARDS OF THE YEAR on Monday at 5:00 o’clock,” Trump tweeted, without specifying if the event would take place in the morning or the afternoon. “Subjects will cover Dishonesty & Bad Reporting in various categories from the Fake News Media. Stay tuned!”
The tweet was the latest shot in a longstanding battle between the president and what he’s derided as the “fake news media.” Based on his past comments, it's clear who could get nominated for the new “awards.”
Throughout the past year, the commander-in-chief often has called out major newspapers and news networks for getting stories wrong, and has questioned their anonymous sources.
“Whenever you see the words ‘sources say’ in the fake news media, and they don’t mention names,” Trump wrote in May 2017, “it is very possible that those sources don’t exist but are made up by fake news writers. #FakeNews is the enemy!”
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For example, Trump slammed the Washington Post in December 2017 for a story claiming he came close to “rescinding” the nomination for Supreme Court pick Neil Gorsuch prior to his confirmation hearing.
And also, when he called out CNN in a tweet for its report on WikiLeaks documents provided to his campaign. The network eventually backed off its initial report saying the documents weren't public.
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To end 2017 and welcome in the New Year, the president drafted a tweet wishing his “friends, supporters, enemies, haters, and even the very dishonest Fake News Media, a Happy and Healthy New Year.”
And most recently, Trump congratulated the new publisher of “The Failing New York Times” and offered a bit of unsolicited advice.
“The Failing New York Times has a new publisher, A.G. Sulzberger. Congratulations!” Trump tweeted. “Here is a last chance for the Times to fulfill the vision of its Founder, Adolph Ochs, ‘to give the news impartially, without fear or FAVOR, regardless of party, sect, or interests involved.’”
He continued: “Get impartial journalists of a much higher standard, lose all of your phony and non-existent ‘sources,’ and treat the President of the United States FAIRLY, so that the next time I (and the people) win, you won’t have to write an apology to your readers for a job poorly done! GL.”