U.S. President Donald Trump seems to be feeling besieged as he is lashing out at news media who he feels has been unfair in their coverage of him. In his latest volley he has attacked CNN's president Jeff Zucker on Twitter, saying that he should be fired.
Trump said CNN's "hatred and extreme bias" towards him made the media organisation "unable to function". "Little Jeff Z has done a terrible job, his ratings suck, & AT&T should fire him to save credibility!" he tweeted.
The hatred and extreme bias of me by @CNN has clouded their thinking and made them unable to function. But actually, as I have always said, this has been going on for a long time. Little Jeff Z has done a terrible job, his ratings suck, & AT&T should fire him to save credibility!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 30, 2018
In a second tweet on Thursday, President Trump also criticised NBC News. "What's going on at CNN is happening, to different degrees, at other networks - with NBC News being the worst," he said.
He added that it was "good news" that NBC News chairman Andy Lack could be facing dismissal over his handling of a series of sexual harassment allegations against high-profile news presenters, as well as the hiring of former Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly.
Trump has continuously hit out at news platforms that are critical of him. Over the last few months, President Trump has also targeted the Washington Post, which is owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. He has also targeted reports in the New York Times which have shown a light on his chaotic rule as President.
The White House had also banned CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins from an event in July after asking questions to the President about Russian President Vladimir Putin and his ex-lawyer, Michael Cohen.
CNN declined to comment on the latest tweets made by Trump but they have backed their reporters for their news coverage of the White House.
Make no mistake, Mr. President, CNN does not lie. We report the news. And we report when people in power tell lies. CNN stands by our reporting and our reporters. There may be many fools in this story but @carlbernstein is not one of them.
— CNN Communications (@CNNPR) August 29, 2018
It was also just 48 hours ago that Trump accused Google of political bias as its search platform threw up more results of news critical of him from “left-leaning” news media as compared to those from news media more supportive of his policies.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 31, 2018 01:37 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).