Fox News anchor Harris Faulkner laid into newly-elected New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) over his recent attacks on media and claims that racism was behind the coverage he said was unfair to him.
Adams insinuated that the press was biased, complaining that although he is a black man and the Mayor of NYC, “my story is being interpreted by people that don’t look like me.” He argued that “white media” saw him differently, and accused them of having the story written before he took any action.
An admittedly “frustrated” Mayor Eric Adams was not too happy about the media coverage surrounding his recent visit to Albany.
He traveled to the state’s capital to push for changes to the state’s bail reform law, but did not appear to make much progress. pic.twitter.com/uydJW714cg
— PIX11 News (@PIX11News) February 16, 2022
“Diversify your newsrooms so I can look out and see people that look like me and say we are going to write stories based on the prisms that we have,” Adams said. “That’s not what we’re getting and that’s why I’m covered the way I’m covered. And I’m not comfortable with it.”
Faulkner responded to Adams’ comments during Wednesday’s broadcast of “Outnumbered” on Fox News, saying that the new mayor was criticizing the media instead of addressing people’s concerns.
Co-host Shannon Bream weighed in ahead of Faulkner, saying that it was fine to have a conversation about diversity in the newsroom. But she went on to note that it stopped being fine when demands for diversity — or complaints about lacking it — were used as a cudgel to deflect legitimate criticisms.
“We need to break down the barrier and say we have to report the facts as they are. If that means criticism, it does not matter where you were on the political spectrum are what your background or characteristic chart. That is fair game,” she said.
“I don’t know what he is talking about. The reason he got hired has to do with a completely different other color: blue,” Faulkner began, noting that Adams’ long history as a police officer had given New Yorkers hope that he would be able to mend relationships between the people and police while doing something to mitigate the rising crime rates in the city.
“He has not been in office that long, maybe we will see him do something different,” Faulkner added, going on to point out that she had reached out to Adams for interviews on multiple occasions. “How black, by the way, do you have to be? Do not make me pull out the receipts of how many times I personally have reached out to this mayor. My show was the first place he ever landed on this network.”
“It is not about what we look like. For the mayor to say that is really shortsighted because the ink is also one color. When they print those newspapers, they don’t care about the color of your skin. What they care about is have you brought down the crime statistics that Kayleigh has talked about? So I’m just asking on behalf of all of those who might be offended by what you’ve said because even when I show up, no matter what you think may come out of my mouth, I’m still reporter whether you can see the color of my skin or not,” Faulkner continued.
“It is offensive but you know what it is mostly? It’s cowardly. That’s not what you expect from a 22-year veteran of the NYPD. How disappointing. How cowardly of him not to take questions. I’m going to stave off access from the press,” Faulkner concluded, noting also that Adams’ aversion to the press had closely followed President Joe Biden’s visit to New York. “You heard the mayor speak beautifully at Jason Rivera’s funeral in the eulogy. And then about a week later, the president shows up and suddenly I’m not taking questions and the media is racist. Or not black enough. Whatever he’s saying. He is dropping the race card. He’s pointing the fingers at newsrooms and you’re not enough. You know what? You are not enough. Sit down and take some questions.”
The Daily Wire’s first original film, Shut In, has made its cinematic debut, being met with rave reviews. The Daily Wire is building an alternative to the leftist entertainment industry, one gripping movie at a time. Join us in this mission and stream Shut In today by becoming a Daily Wire member.