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Fox News Anchors Have Become A Voice Of Reason??

by Kelly Tunney
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Up until the 2016 election, many liberals would gladly tell you how much they condemn points of view from Fox News — myself included. But since we entered a time in which a reality TV star could become president, pretty much all bets are off about preconceived notions. Faced with an unprecedented president, surprisingly, liberals are agreeing with some views of Fox News anchors, like Chris Wallace and Shepard Smith.

That is because some members of Fox News have become critical of some of the current Republican president's actions and words — especially having to do with the role of the independent press in a democracy. After a wild ride of a press conference on Thursday, Smith called out Trump for refusing to answer questions about potential ties to Russia:

It's crazy what we're watching every day. It's absolutely crazy. He keeps repeating ridiculous, throwaway lines that are not true at all and sort of avoiding this issue of Russia as if we're some kind of fools for asking the question. Really? Your opposition was hacked and the Russians were responsible for it and your people were on the phone with Russia on the same day it was happening and we're fools for asking the questions? No sir.
We have a right to know. You call us fake news and put us down like children for asking questions on behalf of the American people.

On a Fox & Friends segment Sunday, Wallace took issue with Trump calling the press the enemy of the American people, saying:

Look, we're big boys. We criticize presidents. They want to criticize us back, that's fine. But when he said that the fake news media is not my enemy, it's the enemy of the American people, I believe that crosses an important line.

After hearing points from his fellow anchors that Trump is not the first president to battle with the press, Wallace reminded viewers that while Thomas Jefferson had his troubles with them, he also defended the press' role in American politics.

In early February, Bill O'Reilly sat down with Trump for a pre-Super-Bowl interview, in which the Fox News anchor asked the president why he respects Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is a killer. Trump responded with, "You think our country's so innocent?" O'Reilly also pressed Trump for data to back up his claims of widespread voter fraud. While O'Reilly eventually let the topics go, he did make an attempt to make the president answer take responsibility for what he had said.

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Regardless of Trump's petty complaints, it is actually the press' job to keep him in check and ask him about potential conflicts of interests and ethics boundaries. Journalists are not meant to blindly trust everything that comes from the president. It's the job of the media to investigate to make sure wrongdoing is not happening, and tell Americans the truth when it does.

While there's certainly a lot of things that liberals and Fox News anchors disagree about, it's heartening to see a generally united front on this particular topic of the free press.