During a press conference Wednesday, Donald Trump refused to take a question from CNN’s Jim Acosta, telling him: “No, not you. Your organization is terrible.” Following the incident, there was predictable uproar regarding press freedom when it comes to questioning the president-elect.
Thursday, Fox News host Neil Cavuto delivered a scathing message to the journalists at CNN, telling them: “Payback’s a b****.”
Here’s a full transcript of the segment, courtesy of The Blaze‘s Dave Urbanski:
“Ouch! How’s all that going down, CNN? How does it feel to be dismissed, or worse, ignored? How does it feel when your feelings are hurt? When your reporters are singled out? And you’re treated unfairly and unkindly? Even rudely? What is it like not to be liked? It’s not really fun, is it?
It is not fun when you think you’re doing your job, and the guy you’re covering thinks you’re the piece of work. It’s insulting, isn’t it? Being called on the carpet by the next leader of the free world after years of giving the present one all but a free pass? You can’t figure out suddenly not being in. It bugs you when someone questions whether you’re fair, doesn’t it? Or cuts you to your journalistic core, doesn’t it? It matters now when it’s about you, doesn’t it? Not so much when it’s about someone else.
Presidential pile-ons matter when you’re the subject, not so much–actually scratch that, not at all–when let’s say Fox is the subject.”
Cavuto then played a barrage of clips in which President Obama was critical or dismissive of Fox News.
“And everyone chuckled. Take it from me, taking truth to power can be powerfully unsettling if that power sets its sights on you and attacks you and dismisses you and ignores you. It didn’t matter so much when it wasn’t about you before, CNN. Very different now that it’s you being singled out, CNN. Doesn’t seem very fair now, does it?
The shabby treatment of your reporters is not very nice now, is it? That’s life, I guess. Not fair, not often balanced. And now you’re experiencing what we have been living. Now you’re the ones royally, uh, foxed. And the irony is I feel your pain. You never came to our defense, so allow me to come to yours. You are better than BuzzFeed, but the buzz is you’re getting fed to the wolves. Isn’t it obnoxious and unfair how some celebrate your plight? Kind of feels like the way you celebrated ours, doesn’t it? They say payback’s a b****. If only you would take a moment to rewind the tape and see the shoe is on the other foot. Or am I confusing it with the one now kicking you in the a**?
You see, it’s hard to tell from where I sit. Back then, your silence was deafening. Very different now, isn’t it? And I suspect–just suspect–not much fun, is it?”
A president or president-elect refusing a question from a news network journalist is not something to be taken lightly. That being said, the Obama administration was hostile to Fox News for eight years. Aside from the clips Cavuto played in which Obama blasts the network, a concerted effort to malign Fox News was uncovered via Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests from Judicial Watch:
According to The New York Times: “Fox’s television news competitors refused to go along with a Treasury Department effort on Thursday [October 22, 2009] to exclude Fox from a round of interviews with the executive-pay czar Kenneth R. Feinberg that was to be conducted with a ‘pool’ camera crew…”. Fox News Channel’s James Rosen reported this backlash forced the Obama administration to reconsider its position on the matter: “The Washington bureau chiefs of the five TV news network consulted and decided that none of them would interview Feinberg unless Fox was included, and the administration relented…,” reported Rosen. Ultimately, after other media representatives objected, Fox News Channel was allowed to participate in the interviews.
The Treasury Department denied any such thing took place. In an email to Jenni LeCompte, then-Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs at the Treasury Department, regarding the incident, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest claimed that although they would have liked to exclude Fox, they didn’t: “We’ve demonstrated our willingness and ability to exclude Fox News from significant interviews–but yesterday, we didn’t.”
However, during the row, CBS News ran a segment showcasing just how much animus the Obama administration has toward Fox News:
Additionally, Judicial Watch obtained emails that show the White House media staff had specifically suggested Fox News not be on the docket for a certain interview in the past:
According to one October 22, 2009, email exchange between Dag Vega, Director of Broadcast Media on the White House staff, to Jenni LeCompte, then-Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs in the Treasury Department, Vega informs LeCompte that “…we’d prefer if you skip Fox please.”
Trump may be more overt about his distaste for CNN, but the Obama administration held a very similar view of Fox News.
The president should never refuse questions, or bar news agencies from the press pool, but the idea that Trump’s war against CNN is something unprecedented is simply untrue. The manner in which he’s conducting his war may be new, but the war itself is not without precedent.