Thursday on MSNBC’s “Deadline: White House,” host Nicolle Wallace took a shot at some of her cable news colleagues at the Fox News Channel.
After commentary from Wallace’s panelists about the state of the news business during the Trump presidency, Wallace got into a back-and-forth discussion with the American Conservative Union’s Matt Schlaap about the Fox News Channel, which she questioned how it was different from “state-run media.”
Partial transcript as follows:
WALLACE: Elise Jordan, one of the measurements we have is that viewership at every news network is up. Newspaper subscriptions are up. I mean, people are hungry for the products at least of a free press.
ELISE JORDAN, MSNBC CONTRIBUTOR: Well, and that they want to know what’s actually happened. And I think that you’ve seen some reporting that Fox News has suffered in the ratings because they don’t immediately report breaking news that’s not flattering to the president. And I just — what Gary Kasparov said, it just makes me think so much back to something that Andrew Sullivan wrote about democracy and about how you shouldn’t always be on edge if your democracy is functioning.
You shouldn’t have to worry about your leadership. You shouldn’t have to worry about your government. It should be boring. And right now what we’re experiencing as a country reminds me so much of places I’ve traveled and lived in developing world where, you know, the leaders are corrupt, where the families are milking off the people, and it’s not pretty, and it doesn’t end well.
DONNY DEUTSCH: We are a different country, and you’ve seen Republican senators speak up, and he is getting boxed in, and that’s why he’s getting more and more outrageous. This actually shows how great our republic is.
WALLACE: Go ahead, Matt.
MATT SCHLAAP, AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE UNION: Can I just say one thing? This rhetoric is way over the top. Fox News has different times of shows. There’s plenty of Republicans on Fox News who are never Trumpers. It’s more diverse than you’re characterizing —
WALLACE: I didn’t attack Fox News. Let me make a point, though, real quick and then I’ll give you all the time you need.
Even folks at Fox News will acknowledge pressure to carry the Trump message. You know that to be true. I know that to be true. People that have left Fox News — how is that different from state-run media in some places?
SCHLAAP: Do you want to be careful with saying that balls there are plenty of places where the pressure —
WALLACE: I’m just asking pressure.
SCHLAAP: But is the opposite pressure happening at other news outlets.
WALLACE: Not happening here. Can’t you tell?
SCHLAAP: Well, I’m not make that charge but I’m saying across the line we all have to admit in the news media generally, we all have friends in it, they are not by and large Trump supporters and are not by and large Republicans, OK? Mostly, not completely. And there’s no question if you look at polls, the press itself has not done itself a lot of good by always coming across as balanced.
And I think it is unfair — we’ve been here for an hour. We have a free press. You all were able to say everything you want to say. This is not a third-world. You’re not being silenced. This is still America. We’re going to be OK, guys.
(h/t Mediaite)
Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poo