Trump praises Fox News for 'fair' coverage as channel's ratings soar, beating CNN and MSNBC combined
US President repeatedly takes aim at news organisations that he believes do not cover him in a favourable light
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Your support makes all the difference.Donald Trump has voiced his satisfaction that Fox News’ ratings have soared, claiming it is because of their “fair” coverage of his presidency.
In the latest cable news ratings for the month of October, Fox News achieved higher ratings than MSNBC and CNN combined.
Overall for October, Fox averaged 2.8 million total viewers in prime time while MSNBC got 1.58 million and CNN 931,000, according to Nielsen Media Research.
The president took to Twitter to react to the latest ratings.
Mr Trump has repeatedly taken aim at news organisations in the US that he believes do not cover him in a favourable light.
While speaking at a rally in Florida this week, Mr Trump said that one third of Americans believe the media was “the enemy of the people” - claims which are yet to be substantiated.
The comments came after a series of suspected explosive packages were sent to the leading critics of the president.
The packages were intercepted by authorities and no one was injured.
In the wake of the events, Mr Trump claimed that the “fake news media” had caused “great anger” in the US.
He said it was must time to “stop the open and obvious hostility” and that the media should “report the news accurately and fairly”.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders defended the comments.
“The president is going to continue to draw contrasts particularly as we go into the final days of the election – the differences between the two parties, particularly on policy differences,” Ms Sanders said.
When questioned by a journalist on why Mr Trump was blaming media organisations when the suspected attacker, Cesar Sayoc, was an avid supporter of Mr Trump, Ms Sanders reacted angrily.
“The very first thing that the president did was condemn the attacks, both in Pittsburgh and in the pipe bombs. The very first thing that the media did was blame the president and make him responsible for these ridiculous acts,” she said.
“The only person responsible for carrying out either of these heinous acts were the individual who carried it out.”
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