US President-elect Donald Trump has lashed out at top electronic media executives and journalists, terming them "dishonest" and "deceitful liars" after he invited them for a private meeting of minds.
"Instead of striking a harmonious tone to build rapport following the election, Trump was combative," The Washington Post quoted participants as saying.
"In a calm and deliberate voice, he told the group sitting around a conference table that they had failed to provide their viewers with fair and accurate coverage, and told them they failed to understand him or his appeal to millions of Americans," The Washington Post reported.
According to the daily, 70-year-old Trump repeatedly used the words "unfair" and "dishonest" to describe the coverage during yesterday's meeting in New York with television journalists and executives.
Prominent among news anchors were ABC News anchors George Stephanopoulos and David Muir; CNN's Wolf Blitzer and Erin Burnett; ABC correspondent Martha Raddatz.
Among the network news executives were CNN Worldwide Chairman Jeff Zucker, NBC News President Deborah Turness, MSNBC President Phil Griffin, ABC News President James Goldston, and the four top executives from Fox News, Bill Shine, Jack Abernethy, Jay Wallace and Suzanne Scott.
Trump is scheduled to meet 'The New York Times' reporters and executives today.
"It was like a f---ing firing squad," The New York Post reported based on information obtained from those inside the meeting.
"Trump started with [CNN chief] Jeff Zucker and said 'I hate your network, everyone at CNN is a liar and you should be ashamed', " the report said quoting a source.
"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 source added.
Trump kept saying 'We're in a room of liars, the deceitful dishonest media who got it all wrong.'
"He addressed everyone in the room calling the media dishonest, deceitful liars. He called out Zucker by name and said everyone at CNN was a liar, and CNN was [a] network of liars," the report said.
Kellyanne Conway, chairman of the Trump Campaign, however, disputed such reports.
"No, that's not true at all. I sat right to his left. He did not explode in anger. By the way, it's an off-the-record meeting so whoever said that and mischaracterised it should think twice," she said on Bloomberg Poetics.
Conway along with the incoming White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus were present in the meeting along with the Chief Strategist Stephen Bannon.
"There was no need to mend fences. It was very cordial, very genial. But it was very candid and very honest. From my own perspective, it's great to hit the reset button," Conway said.
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Meanwhile, in an unusual sharply worded remark, that took the White House press corps by surprise, new White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer blasted the media for what he considered "inaccurate and unfair" press coverage over the past 48 hours.
Prominent among these included tweets about a Martin Luther King bust in the Oval Office, and the crowd size coverage during presidential inauguration on Friday.
"The president is committed to unifying the country and that was the focus of his inaugural address. This kind of dishonesty in the media, the challenge of bringing about our nation together is making it more difficult," Spicer said.
"There's been a lot of talk in the media about the responsibility to hold Donald Trump accountable.And I am here to tell you that it goes two ways. We are going to hold the press accountable as well," said the new White House Press Secretary.
Spicer, did not took any question but said he would hold his first news conference on Monday.
In an open display of anger and frustration against the media Spicer alleged photographs of the inaugural proceedings were intentionally framed in a way in one particular tweet to minimize the enormous support that it gathered on the National Mall.
"This was the first time in our nation's history that floor coverings had been used the protect the grass in the mall. That had the affect of highlighting any areas where people were not standing while in years past the grass eliminated this visual," he charged.
Spicer said this was also the first time that fencing and magnetometers went as far back on the mall preventing hundreds of thousands of people from being able to access the mall as quickly as they had in inaugurations past.
"Inaccurate numbers involving crowd size were also tweeted. No one had numbers because the National Park Service which controls the National Mall does not put any out," he asserted.
Spicer said this applies to any attempts to try to count the number of protesters today in the same fashion.
"We do know a few things so let's go through the facts. We know that from the platform where the president was sworn in to 4th Street holds about 250,000 people. From 4th street to the media tent is about another 220,000. And from media tent to the Washington Monument another 250,000 people," he said.
"All of this space was full when the president took the oath of office. We know that 420,000 people used the DC metro public transit yesterday which actually compares to 317,000 that used it for President Obama's last inaugural," he said.
Spicer said this was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration.
"Period. Both in person and around the globe," he added.
