WASHINGTON • United States President Donald Trump often slams his country's media for producing "fake news", so he has decided to make his own.
A bulletin titled Real News has made its second appearance on Mr Trump's Facebook page, detailing all the successes the White House believes were overlooked the previous week. The prototype debuted last month featuring the President's daughter-in-law, Ms Lara Trump, presenting an update on the President's accomplishments.
Episode two appeared on Sunday and showed signs of settling in to a permanent format: The presenter was former CNN pro-Trump commentator Kayleigh McEnany, who revealed on Monday that she had been appointed a Republican National Committee (RNC) spokesman. Also new were over-the-shoulder graphics and headlines, just like a regular American nightly news.
Ms McEnany said she was speaking from Trump Tower, and in 90 seconds ran through a series of positive stories about the President, while seated in front of a blue Trump-Pence themed wall reminiscent of campaign backgrounds.
"Overall, since the President took office, President Trump has created more than one million new jobs, the unemployment rate is at a 16-year low and consumer confidence is at a 16-year high - all while the Dow Jones continues to break records. President Trump has clearly steered the economy back in the right direction," she said.
But the Chicago Tribune said that although the claims were legitimate, the report took some liberties, as the jobs picture has largely continued the trends from late in the Obama administration.
The main points of both videos were jobs, crackdowns on criminal gangs and the President's donation of his salary.
"This tactic isn't new," another RNC spokesman Ryan Mahoney told NBC News, adding that other US lawmakers employ similar techniques, including former Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, who has a talk show on Facebook Live.
However, the Huffington Post observed that Ms McEnany made no mention of the controversies currently embroiling the President.
