Fox News’ Bret Baier attempted to convince the ladies of ABC’s “The View” Thursday that his network is not a “mouthpiece” for the Trump administration.
The host of “Special Report with Bret Baier” fielded a flurry of questions from Whoopi Goldberg and her co-hosts this week — particularly the line of demarcation between his network’s news division and its star pundits.
Mr. Baier, who is promoting his new book “Three Days in Moscow,” defended his reporting while acknowledging “problems” caused by network star Sean Hannity’s friendship with the president.
“If you watch my show, you know, some of the loudest critics of Fox don’t watch my show,” Mr. Baier said. “We’re on the news side and there’s an opinion side. I say to people, just watch my show three times and drop me an email or a tweet and tell me what you think. … I’m going to cover all sides fairly so people can make up their minds.”
Sunny Hostin then pushed back by echoing critics’ claims that Fox shades its coverage in a Trump-friendly way.
“People do see Fox News as the administration’s mouthpiece,” Mrs. Hostin said. “I don’t know if it helped that it’s been reported that your colleague Sean Hannity talks to the president nightly before bed about the day’s musings. Do you think that’s appropriate? I understand Sean is on the opinion side of the network.”
“First of all, the network overall is not a mouthpiece,” Mr. Baier replied. “There may be opinion shows that have a direct relationship with the president, and Sean is not calling me and giving me a download of the call. I was on his show the other night, and he said to me, ’how much problem do I cause the news division? Scale of one to 10.’ And I said, you know, ’A solid six.’ But it depends on the day.”
Mr. Baier’s later plugged his book, which covers President Ronald Reagan’s efforts to destroy the Soviet Union and win the Cold War.
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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