Donald Trump recently sat down for an interview with the Times of London, alongside its proprietor, 21st Century Fox and News Corp chairman Rupert Murdoch — a factor that the paper failed to note, according to the Financial Times.
“It was the journalistic coup of the moment, the first British newspaper interview with Donald Trump since his victory. But there was one thing The Times did not reveal: that its proprietor Rupert Murdoch was sitting in on the conversation,” FT writers Jim Packard and Matthews Garrahan reported.
Two people have confirmed Murdoch’s presence at the interview, per FT. Murdoch’s close relationship with Trump could be seen as a conflict of interest, as the Murdoch family controls America’s most-watched cable news network, Fox News Channel.
Fox News’ parent company, 21st Century Fox, declined comment. Times of London did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.
Trump has repeatedly mocked Fox News’ rival CNN, referring to it as “fake news” and labeling the mainstream media as the “opposition party.”
According to the FT story, photos of the Trump Tower interview feature former British cabinet minister and proponent of the UK’s exit from the EU, Michael Gove, who conducted the interview, along with German reporter Kai Diekmann. Murdoch, however, is nowhere to be found and his involvement was not mentioned in the final story.
According to FT, it’s not clear if Murdoch played a role in securing the interview that was eventually published in the paper he owns.