Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang recently appeared on the Nerds for Yang 2020 podcast — available on YouTube — which focuses on Yang’s campaign as well as other candidates and issues in the presidential race. At one point, the 44-year-old serial entrepreneur was asked about the most surprising thing he’s learned since starting the race, and one of the two things Yang said was media corruption.

“The other thing is just how corrupt our media conglomerates are,” he said. “Where, I was stunned, I thought they just reported news, much more so, but they actually really do have their fingers on the scales in various ways.”

“Its wild, during this run, I feel like I’ve now seen kernels of truth in a lot of Trump-isms honestly,” he said later. “Where he’s like ‘Fake news!’ and then you’re like ‘Oh come on, Trump.’ And then you look into it and be like ‘Well, there is something there.'”

It’s not the first time Yang has been critical of the media. He criticized the debate format during his closing statement from the second debate and has criticized the relationship between the media and Donald Trump, which he compared to a “reality TV show” — referencing his debate statement.

Related

Yang also has a history of being excluded by MSNBC graphics and charts, as The Inquisitr reported, and was sometimes excluded while other lower-polling candidates were included. More recently, The Hill reports that Yang was excluded from a CNN chyron that included Beto O’Rourke in his place, despite the fact that O’Rourke only had one percent in the poll compared to Yang’s three percent. After the Yang Gang pushed the “Yang Media Blackout” hashtag and cried foul, CNN apologized, pulled the graphic, and said that it was an honest mistake.

Per The Inquisitr, Yang has been gaining ground after his well-received second debate performance and hit five percent in early states in a new Monmouth University poll. In addition, RealClearPolitics reports that Yang recently made the jump to sixth place in polling with an average of 2.5 percent support. Pete Buttigieg and Kamala Harris are ahead in fifth and fourth with 4.6 percent and seven percent, respectively, while Cory Booker and Beto O’Rourke trail him with 2.4 percent each. As for the frontrunners, Joe Biden still lead with 28.9 percent support, Bernie Sanders is in second with 17.1 percent, and Elizabeth Warren is in third with 16.5 percent.

ABC News reports that the third debate round will take place on September 12. Yang is placed second from the edge of the stage ahead of O’Rourke and Julian Castro. The placement was determined based on polling, with the highest polling candidates near the center of the stage.