Trump Fires Off Anti-Media Tweet Barrage

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump continued his assault on the media Sunday with a string of Tweets taking aim at the New York Times and CNN in particular and the national media in general, branding them corrupt, dishonest and more.

"Crooked Hillary Clinton is being protected by the media. She is not a talented person or politician. The dishonest media refuses to expose!," he Tweeted Sunday.

That followed Tweets about his rallies not being covered "properly" by the media because he said they never show the size or enthusiasm of his crowds.

"If the disgusting and corrupt media covered me honestly and didn't put false meaning into the words I say, I would be beating Hillary by 20%," he also Tweeted.

He aimed directly at the Times in a pair of Tweets:

"The failing @nytimes, which never spoke to me, keeps saying that I am saying to advisers that I will change.

False, I am who I am-never said," and "The failing @nytimes talks about anonymous sources and meetings that never happened. Their reporting is fiction. The media protects Hillary!"

Trump also called CNN "failing" and "phony."

Trump has been the target of strong criticism for his recent comments that Second Amendment fans might be able to do something about his opponent, Hillary Clinton, and her ability to pick Supreme Court justices if elected and his suggesting that President Obama was a founder of ISIS, which Trump has said was "sarcasm" that the media didn't get.

Of the Second Amendment comment, which some took as a threat of violence against Clinton, Trump has said he only meant that "pro-Second Amendment citizens must organize and get out vote to save our Constitution!"

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.