The Canadian Press Premier Doug Ford says mainstream journalists have become irrelevant because social media allows him to speak directly to Ontarians.

OTTAWA — Premier Doug Ford says mainstream journalists have become irrelevant because social media allows him to speak directly to Ontarians. The Ontario premier told a conference of conservative thinkers, strategists and politicians Saturday that journalists are "losing the battle" to inform people about the news.

Speaking at the annual Manning Networking Conference, Ford accused journalists of being "far-left" and intent on distorting the messages of politicians. "I get along with them one-on-one, I really do," Ford told the crowd. "I like them but it's like the cheese slipped off the cracker with these guys and they just went far-left." Social media presence Ford said the spin put on political messages by mainstream media no longer matters. "But guess what? Now there's social media so we're circumventing the media through our social media." During last year's provincial election, he recounted how he "drove the media crazy" by going directly to voters through social media tools like Facebook and Youtube and Twitter. He boasted that his campaign website "Ford Nation Live" got 18 million hits — purportedly more than all the mainstream television news networks combined. And as premier, he said they're continuing that approach through the Ontario News Now website. "They want to take what you said and clip and chop and twist it around but we went direct to the people. And they know they're losing the battle," Ford said.

Steve Russell via Getty Images Doug Ford speaks in the Legislative Assembly on March 7, 2019.