NEW YORK. – US president-elect Donald Trump has cancelled a meeting with the New York Times, a day after berating media chiefs at his headquarters for “unfair” coverage.Without elaborating, accused the newspaper of changing the terms of the meeting.
He tweeted: “They continue to cover me inaccurately and with a nasty tone!”
Trump has had an antagonistic relationship with the Press, railing against liberal bias, but has benefited from blanket TV coverage.
In other developments, Trump’s top adviser, Kellyanne Conway, told MSNBC he would not pursue an investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private e-mail server as he wanted to help his defeated Democratic rival “heal”
The UK ruled out replacing its ambassador in Washington after Trump tweeted that Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage “would do a great job” Early yesterday, the US president-elect tweeted that he had called off his meeting with what he always refers to as the “failing” New York Times.
The Republican – known to be an avid media consumer – said the newspaper had switched the terms at the last moment, adding: “Not nice.”
The Manhattan billionaire said he would instead be holding “great meetings” about who to appoint to his cabinet.
However, Jonathan Mahler, a political correspondent for the daily, tweeted that it was the president-elect who had tried to change the rules of engagement.
He said Trump had asked for the discussion to be private and off-the-record, but the newspaper had refused.
A New York Times spokeswoman said it had only learned the meeting had been cancelled when he tweeted.
Trump also tweeted: “The failing @nytimes just announced that complaints about them are at a 15 year high. I can fully understand that – but why announce?”
A Trump spokeswoman, Hope Hicks, later suggested that Tuesday’s face-to-face with the newspaper’s executives could be back on.
The New York Times has been reporting on potential conflicts of interest Trump could face between his business interests and the presidency.
On Monday evening, Trump invited leading figures from the American TV networks for an off-the-record briefing at Trump Tower, where they were subjected to a tirade about election reporting.
The media executives and anchors – including NBC’s Lester Holt, CNN’s Wolf Blitzer and ABC’s George Stephanopoulos – were apparently expecting to discuss coverage of his presidency.
But instead Trump reportedly labelled them “liars” and called journalists the “lowest form of humanity”.
One attendee leaked the details to the New York Post, saying: “The meeting was a total disaster.
“The TV execs and anchors went in there thinking they would be discussing the access they would get to the Trump administration, but instead they got a Trump-style dressing down.”
The New York Times reports that during his complaint about “dishonest” coverage Trump singled out CNN president Jeffrey Zucker.
According to the Washington Post, Trump also referred to NBC’s Katy Tur and ABC’s Martha Raddatz, without naming them.
Kellyanne Conway, however, said the meeting was “very cordial”.
Throughout his campaign, Trump accused the media of dishonesty, sometimes targeting individual journalists at his rallies and even denying some outlets accreditation to his events.
He feuded with Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly, who later alleged that he had offered her gifts, including hotel stays, in an attempt to influence coverage. The presenter said she was not the only journalist who had been offered freebies by Trump.
Two weeks after his shock election victory, Trump has yet to hold a news conference, and US media outlets have griped that no president-elect has delayed holding a press briefing for so long since Jimmy Carter in 1976.
Trump on Monday promised that on his first day in the White House in January, he would torpedo the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, a cornerstone of President Barack Obama’s foreign policy.
The withdrawal from the TPP)trade deal on his first day is part of Trump’s six immediate steps.
The Republican billionaire said in a twitter video message, “My agenda will be based on a simple core principle: putting America first.”
“On trade, I am going to issue our notification of intent to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a potential disaster for our country,” said Trump, who takes office January 20.
“Instead, we will negotiate fair, bilateral trade deals that bring jobs and industry back onto American shores,” he added.
The president-elect, who tapped the anger of working-class Americans who feel left behind by globalisation during the election campaign, singled out trade deals such as the TPP as key culprits.
Both the 12-nation TPP and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) featured heavily in the brutal White House race – which was accused of harming the US economy and jobs – and many see Trump’s victory as a repudiation of ever-deeper commercial ties.
Asian leaders have been scrambling to save the TPP, and US Trade Representative Michael Froman warned last week that scrapping it would have “serious” strategic and economic costs.
Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Monday that TPP would be meaningless without US participation.
Abe, who attended a gathering of TPP leaders in Lima on Saturday, said there was no discussion at the meeting that other members should try to put the TPP into effect without the US, Abe told reporters in Buenos Aires.
“The TPP would be meaningless without the United States,” Abe added.
Abe had worked closely with Obama on trade pact, which was part of Obama’s push to counter the rising strength of China and a pillar of Abe’s economic reforms.
– BBC/News Agencies.