Chris Wallace slams Fox colleagues for ‘bashing the media’

Fox News host Chris Wallace is slamming his counterparts on Fox’s opinion side for their criticism of the media in the Trump era.

The “Fox News Sunday” host told The Associated Press in an interview published Thursday that the network’s opinion commentators are showing “bad form” when they side with President Trump’s criticism of the “fake news” media.

“I don’t like them bashing the media, because oftentimes what they’re bashing is stuff that we on the news side are doing,” Wallace said in an interview. “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.”

Wallace said that it’s not the content of Fox hosts’ opinions that bother him, but the direct attacks on press outlets.

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“It bothers me,” Wallace said. “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.”

Trump’s conflict with the media has been an ongoing theme of his campaign and presidency — earlier this month he threatened to challenge the broadcast licenses of networks after NBC News reported that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had called the president a “moron.”

Fox News has largely been exempt from Trump’s criticism. The president has given more interviews to the network than any other but has not spoken with Wallace since being elected, opting instead for conservative hosts such as Sean Hannity, who has been a frequent critic of the media.

“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.”