News / Politics

Fox News, New York Post build 'preconditions' for Trump’s victory

Saturday, 04 February 2017 2:25 PM [ Last Update: Saturday, 04 February 2017 5:13 PM ]

US President Donald Trump waves as he arrives on Air Force One at the Palm Beach International Airport for a visit to his Mar-a-Lago Resort for the weekend on February 3, 2017 in Palm Beach, Florida. (Photo by AFP)

Mayor of New York City Bill de Blasio has said that the media had been building "preconditions" for many years for US President Donald Trump to win the November election.

The Democratic mayor made the remarks during a press conference on Friday, when asked about the president’s misstatements and factual inaccuracies.

He said Fox News and The New York Post and their parent company, News Corps, played a significant role in keeping the White House in check.

“So, if I say an outlet has a historically ideological agenda, I’m very comfortable with that,” de Blasio said. “I would argue that News Corp. — there, I said it for you — that News Corp., Fox, the Post, but especially Fox on a national level, built a lot of the preconditions for Donald Trump."

"For years, for years and years and years; I think it was systematic. I think it was ideological," he added.

“You have this willingness now to say factually inaccurate things constantly, openly and almost brag about it,” the mayor said of Trump and his aides.

He then turned to the reporters and went on to say, “Now, I think you guys play a crucial, crucial role in, not just fact-checking — you’ve always done that — but in literally in keeping a kind of scorecard you never had to keep before.”

Mayor Bill de Blasio speaks during a rally outside Trump International Hotel & Tower on January 19, 2017 in New York City. (Photo by AFP)

It is not the first time that de Blasio criticized The New York Post. Late last year, he referred to the paper as a “right-wing rag” and “propaganda rag” and refused to call on a reporter of the Post who was trying to ask a question at the mayor's weekly open session.

He also criticized Breitbart, a website whose former executive chairman, Steve Bannon, is now a top aide to President Trump. He recently told The New York Times that media organizations are “the opposition party… They still do not understand why Donald Trump is the president of the United States.”

“There are ideologically-driven news outlets, Breitbart,” said de Blasio. “Does anyone in this room want to tell me Breitbart is objective? Or attempting to be objective? Breitbart would tell you they’re not trying to be objective.”

Trump also echoed Bannon’s sentiment about media late last month, saying, “I think the media’s the opposition party in many ways.”

In another occasion in September, he described reporters as "the most dishonest human beings on earth," and declared himself to be in a "running war" with the news media.

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