During a news conference alongside British Prime Minister Theresa May on Friday, Donald Trump called on Fox’s John Roberts after CNN’s Jim Acosta attempted to ask a question. | Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP Photo Trump opens rift in press corps as he disses CNN as ‘fake’ and Fox News as ‘real’

President Donald Trump’s attack on CNN as “fake news” and his quick pivot during a news conference in Britain to “real network” Fox News opened a rift among the press corps, with some journalists saying Fox should have come to the defense of the rival news outlet.

During the news conference alongside British Prime Minister Theresa May, when CNN’s Jim Acosta attempted to ask a question, Trump responded, “CNN is fake news. I don't take questions from CNN.”


Over Acosta’s protestations, Trump then called on Fox’s John Roberts, instead.

“John Roberts from FOX, let’s go to a real network,” Trump said.

Acosta could be heard saying, “Well, we’re a real network, too,” as Roberts began to ask his question.

Some reporters on Twitter criticized Roberts for allowing Trump to move on so easily after steamrolling CNN. (Despite Trump’s assertion that he does not call on CNN, he had called on a reporter from the network a day earlier.)

“I really wish @johnrobertsFox had taken a moment there to defend his colleagues,” NBC reporter Ken Dilanian tweeted.

“Old enough to remember when other networks came to the defense of Fox News WH correspondents during the Obama years. Such did not happen here,” CNN’s Jake Tapper tweeted. “Lesson for the kids out there: no one should ever try to do the right thing with the expectation it will ever be reciprocated.”

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NBC’s national politics reporter Mike Memoli tweeted similarly, saying, “There was a period when the Obama press shop iced Fox in briefings. The rest of the press corps backed them up in the interest of free press and 1st Amendment. It’d be great to see them return the professional courtesy.”

Memoli and Tapper were referring to an incident in 2009, when the Obama White House went on the attack against Fox News, with chief of staff Rahm Emanuel saying the network was “not a news organization so much as it has a perspective.” After the White House excluded Fox News from a round of interviews with an administration official, other outlets protested by refusing to participate.

In a statement, Roberts said, “In today’s press conference, I paused while my colleague from CNN went back and forth with President Trump over a question. When it became clear that the president wasn’t going to entertain a question from him, I proceeded with my question, as did my fellow colleagues in the press corps.”

In his statement, Roberts also addressed Trump’s attacks during the news conference on NBC —which the president called “possibly worse than CNN” — and its reporter, Kristen Welker.

“I know Kristen Welker of NBC,” Roberts said. “She is honest as the day is long. For the President to call her dishonest is unfair. I also used to work at CNN. There are some fine journalists who work there and risk their lives to report on stories around the world. To issue a blanket condemnation of the network as ‘fake news’ is also unfair.”

Speaking on the air Friday on Fox News, Roberts said something similar.

Not all reporters felt that Roberts was under any obligation to stand up for CNN.

NPR White House correspondent Scott Horsley told POLITICO in an email that, though he was “appalled” by Trump’s attack on CNN, “I don’t share the view that it was John Roberts’ responsibility to defend CNN or the news media generally. During Trump’s first newser, in February of last year, Acosta made a similar push to inject a question and my NPR colleague Mara Liasson was in Roberts’ position, called on by the president. She did pretty much what Roberts did: her job.”

“I’m not averse to the idea that we somehow back each other up,” Horsley added. “But I don’t think any reporter is obligated to yield his spot.”

Kathleen Culver, director of the Center for Journalism Ethics at the University of Wisconsin, said that, though she believes Roberts should have spoken up for CNN, it can be difficult in the moment. News organizations, she said, “Represent the public as citizens in a democracy. When the President attacks one news organization, he attacks the press as a whole and the public’s access to information by extension. I would expect Fox reporters to defend their colleagues at NBC or CNN when they’re attacked as ‘fake,’ and I would expect the same in reverse,” she wrote in an email.

At the same time, she added, “I can understand why, in the fluid moments of a press conference, John Roberts might not respond immediately.”

Tim Franklin, a senior associate dean at Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism, said, “I certainly understand the competitiveness of national news organizations, so I don’t blame John Roberts for continuing to ask his question,” though he added that, had Roberts defended the rival network, it would have been “powerful.”

CNN declined to comment.

Appearing to allude to the controversy, Trump tweeted on Saturday: "So funny! I just checked out Fake News CNN, for the first time in a long time (they are dying in the ratings), to see if they covered my takedown yesterday of Jim Acosta (actually a nice guy). They didn’t! But they did say I already lost in my meeting with Putin. Fake News......"

Acosta then responded on Twitter: "Takedown? I don’t think so. Perhaps we should even the playing field next time and you can take my question. (You’re right about one thing.. I am a nice guy)."

Trump’s exchange with Acosta was just one part of a contentious day between Trump and reporters. During the same news conference, the president denied criticizing May in an interview with the British newspaper The Sun, saying the White House had a recording that would show as much.

“Fortunately, we tend to record stories now so we have it for your enjoyment if you’d like it,” he said.

The Sun itself has posted a recording, proving that Trump did indeed sharply criticize May’s handling of Brexit negotiations and boost her political rival, Boris Johnson.

“In response to the President lashing out at NBC, CNN and The Sun: Asking smart, tough questions, whether in a presidential press conference or interview, is central to the role a free press plays in a healthy republic,” White House Correspondents’ Association President Margaret Talev said in a statement. “Given that the president took a question from a CNN reporter in his NATO news conference just a day earlier, maybe he was letting off steam today rather than expressing an official stance toward a news organization’s ability to report, but saying a news organization isn’t real doesn’t change the facts and won’t stop us from doing our jobs. We appreciate The Sun for posting the entire audio of their interview so that everyone can hear the president’s remarks for themselves.”

During a pool spray with May, Trump also had ignored questions regarding his interview with The Sun, and made a mocking face in response to one. Exiting the pool spray, per a pool report, Trump complained in yet another way to the press, telling a New York Times photographer that a picture in the paper made him appear to have a double chin.

