Trump slams 'fake news media', wants some reporters to be fired

US President Donald Trump criticised “fake news media” on Sunday, calling it a stain on America. He slammed them for being out of control, and that correct reporting means nothing to them.

“Very little discussion of all the purposely false and defamatory stories put out this week by the Fake News Media,” the POTUS wrote in an early morning tweet. He added that “major lies” were written. The tweet came after various journalists earned Trump and his supporters’ attention over a series of alleged reporting errors.

Washington Post’s Dave Weigel has tweeted a photo of an empty arena before a Trump rally in Pensacola, Florida, on Friday. But the photo was supposedly taken hours before the rally started. Trump also shared photos of the arena showing it was full. The photo Weigel tweeted no longer appears on his personal account.

Weigel apologised after another reporter told him he had gotten it wrong. He admitted he was confused, but maintained that the “bad tweet” was from his personal social media account, not a story for Washington Post.

Despite his apology, Trump believes Weigel must be fired. He pointed out that the reporter just admitted that the photo was fake and that he went ahead and tweeted it despite knowing the place was packed and was actually shown on television.

On Friday, Trump called ABC News's Brian Ross a “fraudster.” The reporter has claimed that Trump had directed Michael Flynn, his former national security adviser, to make contact with Russian officials during the 2016 presidential campaign. The report was eventually corrected by his news organisation to say that the US leader asked Flynn to contact Russia by the time he was already elected.

Trump believed that Ross must be fired, too. He said he was suspended for a month when he should have been fired for what he wrote. Ross was suspended for four weeks with no pay.

The POTUS also took aim at CNN at a rally in Florida after the news media made a correction about documents Donald Trump Jr obtained from WikiLeaks. The news organisation updated its story to include the correct date. The POTUS thanked CNN for doing so, and added that it should have been apologising for the last two years. He encouraged his Twitter followers to see if CNN fires those responsible.