There is no truth to the reports that News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch has tried to get Fox News to stop covering Donald Trump's presidential candidacy, Fox News CEO Roger Ailes tells
The Hollywood Reporter.
"My relationship with Rupert has never been better — I talked to him three times today, and none of the conversations involved Donald Trump or The New York Times," Ailes told the Reporter.
A New York Times front page story on Wednesday was followed by an online column at
New York Magazine asserting that Murdoch has been putting pressure on Ailes.
Murdoch's Wall Street Journal
ran a scathing editorial over the weekend that blistered Trump and "the conservative media who applaud him." Though no specific media was mentioned, the editorial is seen inside Fox News as a message to Ailes, The New York Times Magazine piece quoted an insider.
But The Hollywood Reporter quoted the media research firm TVEyes as saying that while Fox News Channel has mentioned Trump 496 times during a five-day period ending Tuesday, that was less than CNN and MSNBC, which ran 547 and 620 stories, respectively.
Further, some Fox anchors and guests have been critical of Trump, while others have defended him, while CNN and MSNBC's coverage has been overwhelmingly negative.
"FNC contributors George Will and Charles Krauthammer routinely bash Trump, and his remarks about McCain earned him rebukes on FNC from Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly, Geraldo Rivera, Greg Gutfeld and others," the Reporter noted.
Also, Fox doesn't appear to be playing favorites, according to the Reporter. Most GOP candidates have been frequent guests since announcing, with Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul appearing 31 times, Rick Perry 21 and Carly Fiorina 18. Trump has appeared 28 times.