"CNN's reporting was not fake news,sex videos in court" Fox News host Shep Smith said on air on Friday.
In lieu of a daily press conference, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer held a closed-door gagglewith reporters, hand-selecting which media organizations had the privilege of attending. CNN, the New York Times, BuzzFeed, the Los Angeles Timesand Politicowere denied access, prompting a flurry of confusion and outrage.
While reporters from the Associated Press and Timereportedly boycotted the meeting, the media outlets banned found an unexpected but increasingly vocal ally: Fox News' Shep Smith.
Smith defended the media organizations that the White House barred from the briefing on TV on Friday afternoon, and noted that President Donald J. Trump has referred to some the organizations as "fake news" in the past. When Smith noted that Spicer hand-picked the media allowed in the gaggle, Smith said, "that is highly unusual."
Later in the segment, Smith attempted to educate Trump and his audience on what "fake news" really actually is. Sorry, but it's not news that you don't like.
"For the record," Smith said in the broadcast, "fake news refers to stories that are created often by entities pretending to be news organizations solely to draw clicks and views and are based on nothing of substance. In short, fake news is made-up nonsense delivered for financial gain. CNN's reporting was not fake news."
This isn't the first time Smith has gone on air to defend CNN. He defended CNN reporter Jim Acosta after Trump called CNN fake news during a press conference and again when Trump insulted the media at another press conference when he ignored questions involving Russia.
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