President Adds NBC, ABC to 'Fake News' List

Faced with reports that his campaign may have collaborated with Russia on the leaks of information about his opponent in the presidential race, Donald Trump took to Twitter Thursday morning to brand NBC and ABC purveyors of "fake news," the latest in a string of such accusations.

"Just watched the totally biased and fake news reports of the so-called Russia story on NBC and ABC. Such dishonesty!," Trump tweeted.

The reports followed the testimony of FBI director James Comey that his agency has for several months been investigating whether there were such contacts, and a story Wednesday night by CNN that cited unnamed "U.S. officials" that the FBI had information "that indicates associates of President Donald Trump communicated with suspected Russian operatives to possibly coordinate the release of information damaging to Hillary Clinton's campaign," saying that was, in part, what Comey was referring to.

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, has said there is "more than circumstantial evidence" of collusion that is "worthy of investigation."

This week FCC chairman Ajit Pai said he did not think the media were the enemy of the American people, as President Trump has alleged, but added that the president appeared to be talking about "fake news."

Related: Trump Brands Media 'Enemy of the American People'

The Urban Dictionary now defines “fake news” as “a  term formerly useful for describing websites consisting entirely of intentionally fabricated news stories, but now used to describe virtually anything that does not mesh with one's own views.”

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.