Fox News Primetime Lineup Totally Ignores Trump’s Media Ban

AP Photo/Alex Brandon

President Donald Trump banned three news organizations from the White House on Friday, but one would never know that by only watching Fox News’s primetime lineup that night.

In a screed on Truth Social, the president announced he is barring CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from the White House.

“Media Outlets shouldn’t be able to constantly write or report FICTION and LIES when they’re covering the President of the United States, the Trump Administration, or the United States of America,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, while promising, “Other Fake News Media Outlets to follow.”

Trump suggested other outlets, particularly The New York Times and The Washington Post, would also be banned.

“I mean, they’re disgusting,” he said. “I don’t get it. Why would they be? You know, we’re doing so well, and they’ll take the most positive story and make it as negative as possible.”

The blacklisting of three major news organizations was itself the big news of the day, especially on the airwaves of affected parties CNN and MS NOW, as to be expected. But on Fox News, the ban was virtually ignored.

Trump first made his announcement on Truth Social just after 3 p.m. ET. Later that hour, Fox began carrying Trump’s press gaggle from the Oval Office, where several reporters asked about the ban. When the gaggle ended during the 4 p.m. hour, Fox News host Will Cain did not acknowledge the ban on The Will Cain Show, and neither did the following program, The Five. It was only at the end of Special Report – Fox’s flagship evening news program – that the ban was discussed, albeit quite briefly.

But from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m., no mention of Trump’s media ban was to be found. There was no mention of the ban from Laura Ingraham on The Ingraham Angle, guest host Charlie Hurt on Jesse Watters Primetime, Sean Hannity on Hannity, or guest host Kennedy on Gutfeld!

The ban received a brief mention on Fox during the late-night hour on Fox News at Night, where Trace Gallagher spent 25 seconds reporting on it.

Multiple Fox News personalities did criticize the ban, but off-air.

Fox News White House Correspondent Jacqui Heinrich, speaking in her capacity as president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, issued a statement saying in part, “The WHCA stands in defense of our colleagues at CNN, MSNOW, and Politico who are being singled out for doing their jobs.”

John Roberts, who co-hosts Fox’s America Reports, said he does not expect the ban to last long.

Fox News contributor Jonathan Turley ripped the ban as “an assault on long-honored principles of a free press. Meanwhile, Fox News Chief Political Analyst Brit Hume agreed, quote-tweeting Turley and saying, “If he thinks this will lead to more favorable coverage, I think he’s dreaming.”

Fox News Political Analyst Guy Benson called Trump’s move “exhausting.”

And Ari Fleischer, another Fox News contributor and a former White House press secretary, said that while the banned outlets’ coverage of the president has been “biased and unfair,” barring them is wrong.

Fox News radio political analyst Josh Kraushaar was the lone critical voice on Fox News Channel. Appearing on the panel at the end of Special Report, he said Trump’s prohibition is “not good.”

The banned media outlets will likely sue the White House over the decision, which is a legally dubious one.

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