Donald Trump moves ‘Fake News Awards’ back by nine days due to ‘greater importance’

Donald Trump has said his “Fake News Awards”, which he first mentioned four days ago, and in which he has promised to proclaim the “most dishonest and corrupt” media organisation, will apparently go ahead over a week later than the President earlier planned, due to increased “interest”.

On 3 January Mr Trump said he would be announcing “THE MOST DISHONEST & CORRUPT MEDIA AWARDS OF THE YEAR” on Monday 8 January at 5.00pm.

His tweet prompted international bemusement and amusement, but now the President has said he is delaying the honours citing the “interest in and importance of” the awards.

Writing on Twitter he said: “The Fake News Awards, those going to the most corrupt & biased of the Mainstream Media, will be presented to the losers on Wednesday, January 17th, rather than this coming Monday. The interest in, and importance of, these awards is far greater than anyone could have anticipated!”

The US President also indicated what kind of award categories the public can expect to see.

“Subjects will cover Dishonesty & Bad Reporting in various categories from the Fake News Media. Stay tuned!” he tweeted.

The President’s announcement comes as his administration is dealing with significant allegations from journalist Michael Wolff’s book Fire and Fury, detailing Mr Trump’s first year in the White House.

Amongst countless revelations, the book claims former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon described a meeting between Donald Trump Jr and a group of Russians was “treasonous”.

It also says the Trump campaign did not expect to win the US election and Trump himself was “befuddled” by the result, that he was angry A-list stars snubbed his inauguration, and that he found the White House “scary”.

Other parts of the book described how White House staff and the President’s own family are forced to treat Mr Trump like a “child”, that he often repeats himself and that the people around him frequently question his suitability for the role.

Mr Trump dismissed the book as “phony”, adding the author “is a total loser who made up stories in order to sell this really boring and untruthful book”.

The book’s publication renewed debate on Mr Trump’s mental health.

Mr Trump hit back on Twitter, writing: “I think [I] would qualify as not smart, but genius....and a very stable genius at that!”

During his tenure as President, Mr Trump has repeatedly claimed the media has been unfair to him. In particular he has lashed out at what he calls the “failing New York Times”, as well as CNN and NBC describing them as “fake news”.

Mr Trump’s awards have been met with widespread mirth with US talk show hosts offering themselves up for consideration for the awards.

On Thursday The Late Show’s Stephen Colbert released a spoof ad asking the President to consider his show in all categories, including “Least Breitbarty”, “Fakest Dishonesty”, “Dishonestest Corruption”, and for “The Eric Trump Memorial Award for Disappointment”.

On Friday the Daily Show with Trevor Noah took out a full colour Oscar-style advert in the New York Times also apparently aimed at sealing a victory in Mr Trump’s awards.

“For your most dishonest & corrupt media awards of the year consideration,” the ad began, including various real quotes, including from Breitbart calling the show “political propaganda”, and the New York Post describing it as “monotonous…liberal dogma.”

It is unclear how Mr Trump’s awards will be judged.