US President Donald Trump has accused Fox News of giving excessive coverage to Democratic Party candidates in the run-up to the mid-term congressional elections. The US leader is unhappy that the conservative broadcaster is not giving enough attention to the Republicans and his campaign rallies.
Briefly about the main points
- Trump accused Fox News of giving undue attention to Democratic Party candidates.
- The US President stated that the television channel was not doing enough to help the Republicans ahead of the 3 November election.
- Trump was particularly displeased by an interview with Abdul El-Sayed, the Senate candidate for Michigan.
- Presidential adviser Peter Navarro has called on Trump supporters to stop watching Fox News.
Trump accused Fox News of helping the Democrats
In recent weeks, the US President has repeatedly criticised the television channel on his social media platform, Truth Social. According to him, Fox News devotes too much airtime to the Republicans’ political opponents.
25 October Trump stated that candidates from his party remain under-represented in the media, whilst the Democrats are regularly given the opportunity to address the channel’s audience.
«Fox is doing too little to help,» wrote the president.
He also suggested that it is the Democrats’ coverage that makes the election race more competitive. Trump did not provide any evidence of a direct influence of the channel’s editorial policy on the voting results.
An interview with a Senate candidate has caused outrage amongst the President
One of the causes of the conflict was a Fox News interview with a Democrat Abdul El-Sayed, who is standing for election to the US Senate from the state of Michigan.
Trump criticised the presenter Martha McCallum, accusing her of being too lenient towards the politician. The President also expressed his dissatisfaction that his own campaign speeches, in his view, were not receiving enough attention.
The criticism also extended to other Fox News programmes featuring Democratic Party candidates and independent politicians.
Trump’s supporters are calling for a boycott of Fox News
The President’s Senior Adviser on Trade and Industry joined the debate Peter Navarro. He criticised Fox News for its coverage of the White House’s economic policy, in particular for its negative assessments of the administration’s tariff decisions.
Navarro stated that the channel should be representing a conservative audience, yet its journalists are criticising the President’s key initiatives. The adviser called on viewers to stop watching Fox News.
Previously, similar claims had been made by the former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon, who accused the channel’s management of failing to provide sufficient support for the MAGA movement.
Fox News continues to cover Trump’s election campaign
Despite the public row, Fox News remains one of the main media platforms for the US conservative audience. The channel sends journalists to the President’s campaign rallies and broadcasts his speeches. In particular, Fox News aired over an hour of Trump’s rally in Michigan on 25 October, as well as his speech in Texas on 27 October.
The President continues to give interviews to television presenters. On Sunday, he spoke for around 25 minutes with Larry Kudlow, who previously headed the National Economic Council in the Trump administration.
The US mid-term elections will take place on 3 November. Americans will elect all members of the House of Representatives and some members of the Senate.
