Trump spars with some in media over 'fake news'

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PRESIDENT-ELECT TRUMP FUELS DEBATE AS HE SPARS WITH SOME IN MEDIA OVER 'FAKE NEWS'

Mercedes Schlapp: I think that Donald Trump has been able to set the record straight and be able to take on some of these media outlets or let's look at BuzzFeed, which is more of a pop culture site. Let's be real. Ben Smith, the editor of this site, basically sent a memo to the staff back in 2015 to tell the staff it's entirely fair to call Trump a racist. That's not what I call fair and balanced journalism.

Gina Loudon: I think that the beauty in all of this though, I like to try to take away the positive, is that President-elect Trump took the term fake news, which was a term of the left, he absolutely stole it, flipped it on its head and it belongs to the right. I don't know if the left is going to be able to use the terminology fake news because everyone is going to remember this example when they think of the word fake news, so I think it's back fired on them.

Juan Williams: I think they may have difficulties or differences, but I must say the owners of BuzzFeed have in fact said they agree with the editor's decision to go ahead. I don't necessarily agree. I think that that's information about Donald Trump had been for a while and Donald Trump saluted news organizations this week who said it's unsubstantiated and therefore they did not publish the story, but I think it's important for all of us here to stop for a second and realize that CNN did not do what BuzzFeed did.

Rachel Campos-Duffy:  This flimsy story wasn't just potentially damaging to Donald Trump, it’s damaging to our cultural fabric, thanks a lot, BuzzFeed, for giving us parents another presidential sex act to explain to our children. And the left wants it both ways here, they've coarsened our culture, even if these allegations were true, I’m not sure this would have taken Donald Trump down, not that I think he's a Teflon candidate, I think that our culture has gotten so tawdry and this stuff is no longer shocking.

FAMILIES OF TERROR ATTACK VICTIMS SUING TWITTER

Gina Loudon: They shouldn't be verifying organizations on Twitter like ISIS. Let's not forget, they’re the ones who have started this moral high ground.  Back when the Tea Party was using some of these social media as a platform. That's when they decided what was moral and what was immoral and what was hate speech, what was bullying. Now, I think they need to stand by that and make sure that terror isn't proliferating on their platform.

Rachel Campos-Duffy:  Listen, the real people behind this, the real culprits and people they should be looking at and potentially suing if they want to do that is Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. They're the ones responsible for the metastasization of ISIS, their growth, and what we saw in Orlando, Germany and Belgium where the families are so upset. That's the problem. We can't go off and sue Twitter. This is going to stifle innovation and that's not the culprit.

Juan Williams: I think you and I would agree that no court would say you should sue the president of   the United States because his policy is in dispute. These people have to do a better job of keeping bad guys off. I didn't realize they had verified some of these terror actors, that's outrageous.

Mercedes Schlapp:  It's a fine line for these organizations, I have to tell you, Facebook came out with a statement saying that they swiftly act when they see terrorist content on their site, with that being said, obviously it's part of it is going to be Facebook working and Twitter and these other social media organizations working closely with the intelligence community when there's a red flag.  But you also have to be careful that you don't limit information on these different sites.

PAINTING IN CAPITOL DEPICTING POLICE AS PIGS SPARKS FIERCE FIGHT

Gina Loudon: I’m embarrassed of the congressman from Missouri since I’m originally from the show-me state that he would act this way. He's dehumanizing police by calling them pigs. He should be held accountable as an accessory.

Rachel Campos-Duffy:  Representative Lacy Clay as a member of the Congressional Black Caucus should know better.  The dehumanization of black people was used as justification for slavery and used to justify killing fetuses and abortion, and at a time when our law enforcement is under assault, I’m fundamentally opposed to the people’s house hanging any art that dehumanizes any American.

Juan Williams: I think that art is intended to be provocative it’s like movies or books,  that raise controversial issues and certainly the treatment of poor black people by police, is a hot, hot topic, Black Lives Matters, you know that movement.  And don’t forget we have things like statues of Confederate soldiers and Confederates who supported slavery in the capitol. So the idea of a young person winning an art contest, I don’t see what is so wrong here.

Mercedes Schlapp: In the rules, they state that you do not depict contemporary political controversies. Obviously, this issue, on race relations and depicting police as pigs, which is absolutely disgraceful, it's wrong, it should not be hung up in the capitol, they should follow these art competition rules plain and simple.