Media

CNN anchor: ‘Fox and Friends’ is ‘state TV’

by Ben Kamisar - 06/23/17 12:54 PM ET

CNN anchor John King blasted Fox News’s morning show as “state TV” on Friday as he accused Fox’s Ainsley Earhardt of throwing President Trump softball questions in a new interview.

King made the comment after airing a clip of the interview from “Fox and Friends” where Trump explained his recent declaration that he had no tapes of his conversations with former FBI Director James Comey. Trump implied on Twitter weeks ago that he could have recorded Comey.

As Trump answered, Earhardt added that she believed Trump’s tactic was a “smart way to make sure [Comey] stayed honest in his hearings.”

{mosads}”Let’s set aside the tough, probing questions on state TV there,” King said Friday on CNN’s “Inside Politics” to chuckles from the panel.

“We haven’t actually heard the president’s entire story, have we?” he said.

The relationship between the media and the administration has continued to fray over the past week as the White House defends its trend of eschewing the practice of regular press briefings.

CNN reporters have been vocal critics of the decision to hold embargoed or off-camera briefings, with CNN’s Jim Acosta needling the administration on Twitter before Thursday’s briefing and referring to press secretary Sean Spicer as “useless” later on air. CNN President Jeff Zucker in April referred to Fox as “state-run TV,” adding that he thinks CNN is “seeking the truth.”

ABC’s Jonathan Karl also used the term “state TV” on Friday to describe Fox News when he retweeted a photo of Spicer speaking on the air with Fox despite holding off-camera briefings.