The feud between President Donald Trump and the mainstream news media continues to escalate on a daily basis. With the New York Times becoming one of the president's top media targets, the newspaper decided to response with a TV ad during the 89th annual Academy Awards.
NYT on Trump
Donald Trump has made it no secret that he is not a fan of the media, as he's recently labeled any and all news he doesn't agree with as "fake news." During his campaign for president, Trump made a habit out of bashing the press, referring to reporters and journalists as "terrible" and "the most dishonest" people he's ever met.
Over the last week, Trump has singled out the New York Times on more than one occasion, bashing the paper during his speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference last Friday, while later banning them from a White House press briefing along with other news outlets. In response, the New York Times ran their first television ad in nearly a decade, placing it in the middle of the Academy Awards, which didn't go over well with many supporters of the president, as seen across Twitter on February 26.
Titled "The Truth," the New York Times ran a simple, but effected, 30-second commercial during Sunday night's Academy Awards. "The truth is our nation is move divided than ever," the first sentence reads, in black writing with a white background.
Over the next 30 seconds, only sentences could be seen on screen as the paper focused on the truth in news media. "The truth is alternative facts are lies," another line read, in an apparent shot at Presidential Counsel Kellyanne Conway. The sentences presented alternated between factual information and rhetoric coming out of the White House, before the name of the paper is shown to close out the ad.
In response, fans of the president were not happy and expressed their disdain on social media.
WATCH: The New York Times runs first TV ad in over 10 years during the Oscars https://t.co/c5IveZZAgq pic.twitter.com/SbtNbrNAu0
— The Hill (@thehill) February 27, 2017
Instant reaction
"It's hilarious that @POTUS has gotten the nyt to spend money they don't have on things like this.
They're failing," a Twitter user said, in response to a Fox News tweet on the story. "NYTis a rag paper they have ruined there credibility," one Donald Trump supporter wrote on social media. Another Twitter message referred to the paper as "fake and bias," while others called for a boycott of the news outlet and the entire Academy Awards.
@FoxNews @FoxNewsInsider They need to report news NOT skew it. I will not watch Oscars because of this.
— Patricia Farrell (@patfarrell21) February 26, 2017
@FoxNews @FoxNewsInsider Liberal liars run an ad during a liberal television show... wow, way to put it out there NYT.
— Dee Knight (@deeaknight) February 26, 2017
@FoxNews @FoxNewsInsider @nytimes Won't be 👀for the ad because boycotting awards. Don't need their political persuasions or nytimes fake ads
— Teresa L Cantrell (@TeresaLCantrel2) February 26, 2017
As of press time, Donald Trump has not responded to the ad in question, though he did mention it in a Sunday morning Twitter rant. Trump cited the New York Times ad, calling it "a bad one," before tweeting "Try reporting accurately & fairly!"