Trump delays ‘fake news awards’ due to ‘high interest’

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said late Sunday afternoon that he planned to postpone the announcement of his ‘Fake News Awards’ of the Year 2017 to Jan 17, citing high interest, China’s Xinhua news agency reported.

“The Fake News Awards, those going to the most corrupt & biased of the Mainstream Media, will be presented to the losers on Wednesday rather than this coming Monday,” the president wrote on Twitter.

“The interest in, and importance of, these awards is far greater than anyone could have anticipated,” Trump tweeted.

Trump has reportedly often labelled media coverage critical of his administration as “fake news,” accusing leading US media of spreading “fake news” against him during the US presidential election campaign as well as after he became president.

In early December, multiple major US news outlets reported that the White House was planning to remove the current head of the State Department, as his relationship with Trump was “strained.” Trump denied it as ‘FAKE NEWS!’ on Twitter, and added that “He’s not leaving... we work well together.”

On Dec 11, Trump dismissed a New York Times report that he watched four to even eight hours of television each day.

“Another false story, this time in the Failing @ nytimes, that I watch 4-8 hours of television a day - Wrong!” Trump Tweeted.

While responding to Trump, Clifford Levy, a deputy managing editor at New York Times, tweeted that the newspaper stood by its story, which was based on 60 interviews. — Bernama