Trump Is Proud Of Popularizing ‘Fake News’ Attacks, NYT Publisher Says

President Donald Trump is proud of how popular he has made the term ‘fake news’, according to the publisher of the New York Times, AG Sulzberger. Trump made the remarks in an off-the-record meeting with Sulzberger, which Trump made public on Twitter.

Sulzberger said President Trump told him that other countries had started banning ‘fake news’. The Times publisher reportedly told Trump that the only countries banning ‘fake news’ were dictatorships that ‘were not banning “fake news” but rather independent scrutiny of their actions.’

President Trump initially claimed he had had a ‘good meeting’ with Sulzberger, but in a series of tweets he continued his attacks on both the Times and the Washington Post. 

“When the media – driven insane by their Trump Derangement Syndrome – reveals internal deliberations of our government, it truly puts the lives of many, not just journalists, at risk! Very unpatriotic!” Trump tweeted.

“Freedom of the press also comes with a responsibility to report the news […] accurately. 90% of media coverage of my Administration is negative, despite the tremendously positive results we are achieving, it’s no surprise that confidence in the media is at an all time low!”

Trump is correct that most of the media coverage of his administration has been negative, though there is no evidence this is due to media bias.

Sulzberger said he had asked President Trump to dial back his attacks on the press. Sulzberger claimed he had a productive meeting with Trump but didn’t expect any immediate change in president’s attitude. If anything, it seems that the Sulzberger’s public comments about the meeting have enraged Trump.

“I will not allow our great country to be sold out by anti-Trump haters in the […] dying newspaper industry,” Trump tweeted. “No matter how much they try to distract and cover it up, our country is making great progress under my leadership and I will never stop fighting for the American people!”

The President then attacked the New York Times directly, though he did not mention Sulzberger by name.

“As an example, the failing New York Times […] …and the Amazon Washington Post do nothing but write bad stories even on very positive achievements – and they will never change!”