The News
Top Fox News journalist Bret Baier said he is concerned about the White House taking control of who is allowed to join the press pool covering US President Donald Trump’s activities, and restricting The Associated Press’ access.
“I worry about setting precedent, that changes things down the road and maybe they don’t realize the implications of that,” Baier, the network’s chief political anchor told Semafor’s Ben Smith at the Innovating to Restore Trust in News Summit Thursday, although he stressed that the president has taken more than 1,000 questions from reporters in his first month in office.
The administration barred The Associated Press from the Oval Office and Air Force One after it refused to amend its style guide to change the internationally recognized Gulf of Mexico to Trump’s rebranded Gulf of America.
Baier, who has not touched on the White House’ escalating fight with the US media much on air, said the issue is “very Washington.”
“Telling the story about that is not something people care about in middle America,” he said.
Baier is one of the conservative-leaning cable network’s most high-profile journalists, and has interviewed US President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron in recent weeks, and is set to sit down with UK Prime Keir Starmer on Thursday and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Friday.
When asked about what the administration’s plan for the media is, Baier said, “If you do something here, it lasts for a long time, no matter Democratic… Republican administration.”
Know More
Fox News has supported the AP in its standoff with the White House, signing a letter alongside more than 30 other outlets pushing back on the administration’s decision.
“This move does not give the power back to the people,” Fox’s White House reporter Jacqui Heinrich said, “it gives power to the White House.”
Conservative cable network Newsmax said in a statement that, “We fear a future administration may not like something Newsmax writes and seek to ban us. This is why news organizations like Newsmax and Fox News are supporting the AP’s First Amendment rights.”