Fox’s Wallace discusses journalism, Trump
Fox News host Chris Wallace defended journalism and his channel Wednesday during a speech at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City.
“These are the most interesting, most newsworthy nine months of mycareer but we may just be getting started,” said Wallace, who attended his first presidential convention in 1964 and began covering presidents during the Jimmy Carter administration. Wallace, 70, said he has felt in recent months “like a cub reporter covering the president for the first time” due to the unpredictability of Washington in the era of President Donald Trump. He said “open warfare” between senators and a president of the same party, as seen of late among Republicans, was unprecedented during his tenure in the capital.
“I think the Grand Ol’ Party is turning into the party of Trump right before our eyes,” he said. Wallace was a guest of Oklahoma State University and part of its business school’s speaker series. He began, in dry fashion, with a series of jokes before giving a speech and taking questions from the crowd.
Wallace was asked about journalism in an age of “fake news,” a reference to both counterfeit news websites that peddle made-up stories, as well as Trump’s use of the term.
“The president too often says fake news when it’s just news he doesn’t like,” Wallace said.
“The media has never been especially popular and that’s not our job,” he added. “Our job is to tell the truth. Sometimes the truth is popular; sometimes the truth is unpopular.”
Wallace said he believes Trump has baited many Washington reporters into openly flaunting their opinions rather than remaining objective, which he says is understandably tempting but ultimately a mistake. He defended Fox News, which is often criticized for its own blend of opinion and reporting.
“Now, I’m sure some of you are saying, wait a minute, what about Sean Hannity? ... What about Laura Ingraham?” he said, listing some of the channel’s commentators. “No question about it, they’re conservative and openly so. But I would submit those are opinion shows. No one would suggest they’re straight news reports and while they’re all very popular, they are not what the basic mission of Fox News is all about.”
Wallace said constructive criticisms of the media can be humbling and helpful. He denounced, however, some of Trump’s bolder criticisms about journalists being enemies of the American people.
“I thought that was outrageous,” Wallace said, citing four-star retired Adm. Bill McRaven, who said in February that the president’s remark was the “greatest threat to democracy” he’s ever seen.
Before moderating the final presidential debate of 2016, Wallace said he and aides would dispose of their trash in different trash cans at the hotel to ensure no one from the campaigns could read their discarded notes.
When asked to name his favorite politicians to interview, he listed three senators — John McCain, Lindsey Graham and Dick Durbin — due to their willingness to answer questions. When asked about his least-favorite, he said, “a candidate for president in the last election who came from a southwestern state.” It was likely a reference to Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson, of New Mexico.
Prior to his speech, Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett gave Wallace a key to the city. It was a first in the broadcaster’s lengthy career, he said.