Trump Says Fox News Does Him No Favors

In a Feb. 18 interview on Sirius XM Radio, GOP front-runner Donald Trump said that CNN and Morning Joe (MSNBC) have treated him fairly but that Fox News Channel continues to give him the "worst treatment."

Trump famously sat out a Fox debate after a run-in with the network over moderator Megyn Kelly, whose tough questions in an earlier debate rankled the candidate, who said they were unfair. Fox stood by Kelly.

But in the Sirius interview, Trump also said that FNC chairman Roger Ailes continued to be a friend but "doesn't" do him any favors.

"Roger Ailes and I like each other, but he doesn’t do anything for me," Trump said. "That I can tell you. He certainly doesn’t do anything. In one way, he’s very professional, he won’t lift his finger to help me. Roger Ailes will not lift his finger to help me. Which is fine, I mean he’s a professional and maybe that’s the way it’s supposed to be, but I get treated very badly by Fox."

Trump took another shot at Kelly before repeating he thought Fox gave him the worst treatment.

But asked if he thought Fox was supporting his challenger, Trump did not hesitate: "They’re in love with [Sen. Marco] Rubio. Why, I have no idea, but they are in love with Rubio."

Rubio has been getting more press attention generally as he has moved up to challenge Sen. Ted Cruz for second-place, though Cruz was in first in at least one poll this week.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.