Fox News’ Chris Wallace Is ‘Bothered’ By His Colleagues ‘Bashing The Media,’ But He Doesn’t Name Names

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Despite its popular image as the conservative version of more centrist or left-leaning cable news networks like CNN and MSNBC, Fox News employs a diverse array of personalities. This is especially true of its “News” half, where the likes of Shep Smith and Chris Wallace reside. The former regularly lashes out at Donald Trump’s administration and his own network colleagues for misconstruing reported facts in certain stories, but the latter’s history with the Fox News Channel is just as colorful. Hence his recent interview with the Associated Press, in which he admits his associates’ media “bashing” actually “bothers” him.

“It bothers me,” the Fox News Sunday host explained:

“If they want to say they like Trump, or that they’re upset with the Democrats, that’s fine. That’s opinion. That’s what they do for a living.

“I don’t like them bashing the media, because oftentimes what they’re bashing is stuff that we on the news side are doing. I don’t think they recognize that they have a role at Fox News and we have a role at Fox News. I don’t know what’s in their head. I just think it’s bad form.”

Wallace doesn’t name names while complaining about the Fox News Channel’s opinion half, though it’s easy to tease out who the usual suspects are. Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson, and the couch at Fox & Friends currently offer some of the network’s most obvious pro-Trump, anti-“mainstream media” programming. In July, after Wallace and Smith discussed Donald Trump Jr.’s blatant deceptions regarding the infamous Trump Tower meeting, Hannity specfically criticized Smith for being “so anti-Trump” — on the very channel they both work for.

Last month, a deep dive into Fox & Friends by The Daily Beast recounted many instances of Wallace’s expressed distaste for his opinion-focused colleagues. During a 2008 appearance on morning show, the Fox News Sunday host chastised them for their “distorted” take on remarks about Obama’s use of the phrase “typical white person.” During a more recent visit, Wallace refused the show’s invitation to bash the news media in response to most outlets’ coverage of Trump’s sudden decision to fire FBI Director James Comey.

(Via Associated Press and The Daily Beast)

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