Washington (CNN) Asked if she is concerned that foreign dictators are using President Donald Trump's claims about "fake news" to oppress journalists, State Department spokesman Heather Nauert said Thursday that it is real, both in the US and overseas.

Nauert had made remarks in support of foreign journalists when she was asked whether Trump's complaints about the press -- which includes his use of a phrase from Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin to describe the media as the "enemy of the people" -- gave her pause.

"Fake news, I hate to say, is a real thing," said Nauert, who worked as an anchor and reporter at Fox News before joining the State Department. She is reportedly Trump's favored candidate to be the next US ambassador to the UN.

Nauert was asked whether she had any concern that dictators and others have used Trump's dismissal of "fake news" as a rallying cry for oppression of journalists. She demurred.

"When the President has spoken about fake news, when other world leaders have spoken about fake news, there is such a thing," Nauert said.

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