Trump has a new favourite news network – and it’s more right-wing than FOX

The president has responded to the obscure TV outlets boundless flattery with shout-outs and access

Donald Trump and Fox News are said to have one of the strongest marriages in political showbusiness. But there is a young rival hoping to outfox Fox and catch the US presidents wandering media eye.

The obscure One America News Network (OAN) makes up for its lack of clout or viewers by covering every Trump utterance, recycling conspiracy theories, downplaying Russian threats, bashing the mainstream media and championing the Make America Great Again agenda.

Most Americans have not noticed, but the most powerful one has. The president rewards OAN with shout-outs and access wildly out of sync with its reach, leading some observers to suspect that he is playing OAN and Fox News off one another to ensure their undying affection.

It is a stark example of how Trump as media commentator cuts both ways: while deriding mainstream outlets as enemies of the people, he champions those that offer flattering coverage. Others, however, condemn OAN as a Fox News wannabe that is run on a shoestring with a team of underpaid and inexperienced staff.

An article on the Daily Beast website last month was headlined The Hell of Working at Trumps New Favorite Network, based on interviews with four former OAN employees. One ex-video producer, Ernest Champell, said he was told on his first day at work, Yeah, we like Russia here, and recalled how the network spread conspiracy theories and ran hit jobs on politicians. He quit after four months.

The ex-staff blamed editorial meddling by OANs founder,Robert Herring Sr, 77, a millionaire who made his fortune printing circuit boards. Based in San Diego, California, in 2004 he launched Wealth TV, a cable channel now called AWE (A Wealth of Entertainment) that offers shows such as Dream Cruises and Marijuana Miracle Cure. In 2013, on Independence Day, Herring added One America News.

Or, to be more accurate, is that One America News Network? The URL for OAN had already been acquired and, though not in use, would cost $200,000 or more, whereas OANN was available for $15-20. Roberts son Charles Herring, 53, president of Herring Broadcasting, admitted: So we have a little branding issue, to tell you the truth. People that watch TV know us as OAN; Twitter followers know us as OANN.

The network struggled but jumped aboard the Trump train in the 2016 presidential election. It became the first channel to carry the celebrity billionaire businessmans campaign speeches live and in full, a luxury not afforded to other candidate. This policy has continued during his presidency; not even Fox News broadcasts every speech uninterrupted.

Were the only network that I know of that will carry the presidents speech in its entirety and, regardless of whos the president, Charles Herring said. I really dont care who the president is: left-leaning, right-leaning, you like him, you hate him, it just seems like thats a function of the news.

He added: For that reason we get accused of being a Trump supporter. Theres no doubt that we think some of the results that are coming from this president are simply remarkable and theyre just numbers: unemployment down to 3.2%. Thats a wonderful thing and you would think that we could all applaud that. Unfortunately thats not the case.

Herring claims that OAN which has about 150 staff including six in Washington offers an antidote to other cable news networks emphasis on talking heads and heated argument.

CNN has abandoned straight news in favor of advocacy, he claims, but OAN faces the same charge. Its pundits have included the conservative firebrand Tomi Lahren and Trumps former campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, and it has served up documentaries such as Betrayal at Benghazi: The Cost of Hillary Clintons Dereliction and Greed. Its two talkshows, Tipping Point with Liz Wheeler and The Daily Ledger with Graham Ledger, lean heavily right. When the White House revoked the CNN correspondent Jim Acostas hard pass, Herring announced that OAN would join the court battle on the administrations side.

The approach has earned Trumps patronage and given OAN an ability to punch above its weight. It claims to be the fourth-rated cable news network, trailing Fox News, MSNBC and CNN but ahead of CNN Headline News, Fox Business Channel, CNBC and BBC World News. It says it has 35 million subscribers and its total viewers at any give time can range from about 150,000 to upwards of half a million.

In August 2017, during a joint press conference with the president of Finland, Trump took a question from OANs White House correspondent and said: I want to congratulate you on the network. Its a great network. In June 2018, at a press conference in Singapore, he said: Thank you for the nice way you treat us. We appreciate it. Really, its very good. Its really beautiful what you do.

The president has also mentioned OAN 25 times on Twitter since October 2015, including seven tweets in March, April and May. The most recent: Also, congratulations to @OANN on the great job you are doing and the big ratings jump (thank you President Trump)!

OAN secured a seat in the White House briefing room and its journalists are regularly called upon to ask questions at press conferences. Herring said: Ive instructed our reporters they can ask any question; it should be a meaningful question on behalf of the viewers. It shouldnt be to raise their profile or anything along that line and it must be asked in the most respectful manner. And if you do that, the president of the United States engages.

Last month Emerald Robinson, OANs chief White House correspondent, bagged an interview with the secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, and this week she was the first journalist called upon by Trump at his joint press conference with Polish president Andrzej Duda (Trump: Well take a few questions. Emerald? OAN. Robinson: Thank you, Mr President. Robinson: Thank you.

Robinson was previously an actor the Internet Movie Database lists her in the cast of the 2016 Jennifer Garner film Miracles from Heaven in the role of Woman with Big Hair. She tweeted on Wednesday: President Trump got Mexico to make a deal by threatening them with tariffs. He did it all by himself, folks. The Democrats were against it. The Senate Republicans were against it. The media was against it. Big Business was against it. None of that mattered. All it took was Trump.

It has not all been plain sailing. In March, OAN felt the sting of rejection. It tweeted: President Trump recently gave a speech, thanking his supporters in the media. Not a single mention of One America News — one of his GREATEST supporters…@OANN calls bullshit…

The tweet seemed to give the game away and has since been deleted. Challenged about the incident, Herring is content to throw his father under the bus. I understand the frustration and why the tweet was sent out. I didnt appreciate the way it was done; it was sent out by my father, but so be it. That happens.

But media watchdogs detect something more sinister about the network. OANs Washington team includes Jack Posobiec, once described by the New York Times as a pro-Trump activist notorious for his amateur sleuthing into red herrings like the Pizzagate hoax and a conspiracy theory involving the murder of a Democratic aide.

Dan Cassino, a political scientist at Fairleigh Dickinson University, said: He is rightly regarded as someone who represents the worst of the far-right movement online. To describe him as a troll would be accurate. I think he has been thrown off some platforms which, in these circles, is regarded as a badge of honour.

Cassino, author of Fox News and American Politics, added: OAN are trying to reach people who feel they cant trust the mainstream media, they cant trust Fox News, they cant trust social media. OAN believe Fox has become too centrist or too establishment.

Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/us