Fox News’ Shepard Smith: ‘CNN’s reporting was not fake news’

As President Donald Trump continued his attack on “fake news” Friday by blocking certain news organizations from an off-camera White House briefing with press secretary Sean Spicer, Fox News anchor Shepard Smith came to the defense of a rival network.

“For the record, ‘fake news’ refers to stories that are created, often by entities pretending to be news organizations, solely to draw clicks and views and are based on nothing of substance,” he said. “In short, ‘fake news’ is made-up nonsense delivered for financial gain.”

CNN has largely been on the receiving end of Trump’s media criticism, with the president having called the network “fake news” last month when he refused to answer a question from reporter Jim Acosta during a press conference.

“CNN’s reporting was not fake news,” continued Smith, seen in video below. “Its journalists follows the same standards to which other news organizations, including Fox News, adhere. Senior administration officials regularly speak without attribution so that the public can be informed of what our government is doing — off the record. Just as CNN reports Priebus sent officials to speak off the record against the Russia/Trump campaign reporting.”

After CNN, The New York Times, and other organizations were not allowed into Friday’s briefing, CNN’s Jake Tapper had some strong criticism of the Trump administration.

“This White House does not seem to respect the idea of accountability,” he stated. “This White House does not seem to value an independent press. There is a word for that line of thinking: The word is ‘un-American.’”

Related:

Watch TV shows, movies and more on Yahoo View, available now on iOS and Android.