Fox News anchor Bret Baier said in an interview with The New Yorker that was published Friday that “it pains me” when he hears his network referred to by critics and competitors as “state TV” for the Trump administration.
In the piece, The New Yorker mentions Baier as attempting to maintain journalistic integrity while working in an environment that “often” celebrates President Trump.
“On a network that often outright celebrates the President, Baier has tried to maintain a reputation as a hard-questioning newsman,” the piece read. “And he said in our interview that ‘it pains me’ to hear Fox called ‘state TV’ for the Trump Presidency.”
{mosads}
“I have not gotten an interview with the president, and it’s 534 since I did one with candidate Trump, not like anybody’s counting,” Baier continued.
On-air hosts and anchors on Fox rivals MSNBC and CNN have referred to Fox News as “state-run TV” since President Trump took office. CNN President Jeff Zucker has characterized the network in that fashion on several occasions.
“[Fox News] is really state-run TV,” Zucker said at an industry conference in March. “It is a pure propaganda machine and I think does incredible disservice to this country.”
Baier on Thursday told “The View” that Fox News is criticized unfairly and asked those who haven’t seen his program, “Special Report,” to tune in three times and provide him direct feedback on email or Twitter on whether the show “covers all sides fairly” or not.
“If you watch my show, you know, some of the loudest critics of Fox don’t watch my show,” Baier said. “We’re on the news side and there’s an opinion side. I say to people, just watch my show three times and drop me an email or a tweet and tell me what you think. … I’m going to cover all sides fairly so people can make up their minds.”
In an interview with Fox’s Sean Hannity, Baier was asked by the staunch Trump supporter, “How much crap” he gets for Hannity’s opinions.
“How much crap do you take for me being opinionated?” Hannity asked Baier.
“On a scale of 1 to 10? It’s a good six,” Baier replied.
“Just tell everybody you’re news,” an amused Hannity said. “I’m opinion.”
Baier is on a media tour promoting his book “Three Days in Moscow: Ronald Reagan and the Fall of the Soviet Empire.”
Baier joined Fox News 20 years ago and was named anchor of “Special Report” in 2009.