Fox News, meanwhile, posted a video of the “CNN is fake news” exchange on its official Twitter account, which was retweeted by the network’s top-rated personality, Sean Hannity. Mr. Roberts, himself a former CNN reporter, issued a statement saying that “there are some fine journalists” at CNN, adding, “To issue a blanket condemnation of the network as ‘fake news’ is also unfair.”
Mr. Acosta’s name went unmentioned in the statement, prompting a CNN executive, Matt Dornic, to ding Mr. Roberts for a “glaring” omission. “Next time try and show some class,” Mr. Dornic wrote on Twitter.
Mr. Trump’s assertion that he does not take questions from CNN is false: a day earlier, he had answered a question from Jeremy Diamond, a CNN reporter, and he responds to CNN journalists during White House appearances. Even Mr. Acosta, on Friday, eventually got in a question. “Will you tell Putin to stay out of U.S. elections?” the correspondent asked in a booming voice as Mr. Trump was walking away from the lectern. The president paused, turned back, and called out: “Yes.”
Not all of the news conference was so fraught.
When the president called on Jeff Mason, a White House correspondent for Reuters, he complimented the reporter on his headwear.
“I like your hat,” Mr. Trump said.
“Thank you, sir,” Mr. Mason replied.
“You look good without it, too,” the president added, before praising Mr. Mason’s “good solid head of hair” as other reporters laughed. There were more smiles when Mr. Roberts reached over to lift the hat off his head — revealing Mr. Mason’s mostly bald pate.
Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/13/business/media/trump-cnn-london.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
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