Chris Wallace, the Fox News anchor and host of “Fox News Sunday,” is known as a straight shooter.As well he should be. But it’s become a rare enough commodity in an age of polarized politics — and media that are polarized right along with them — that it’s notable. So notable, in fact, that when he told conservative commentator Katie Pavlich to “get your facts straight” during coverage of the impeachment trial of Donald Trump on Monday, it spawned an explosion of tweets and stories making Wallace sound like a liberal hero.Spoiler alert: He’s not. Nor does he want to be.“It’s silly,” Wallace, who came to Fox News from ABC in 2003, said of the reaction. “I’m not advocating a point of view. I’m simply trying to act as an umpire and call balls and strikes and, particularly if it’s a factual matter, to say, well that’s just not true. I don’t see that, frankly, as expressing an opinion or commenting.”WHAT TO KNOW: 7 things to keep in mind while watching the impeachment trialMORE: Donald Trump again hits Fox News – and Chris Wallace – this time over impeachment coverage'I’m just giving you my best read'Maybe not. But Wallace has shown a willingness to challenge his colleagues. This being Fox News, he’s often lumped in during impeachment breaks with a panel — all the networks favor them these days, though it’s not clear to anyone who actually watches why they do — that's often uniformly conservative. If it sounds like he’s sometimes taking them to task, that’s not really the point.“It really isn’t an opinion,” he said of his contributions. “I’m just telling you my analysis after 50 years in the business and somebody who has studied impeachment — both the history of impeachment and this particular impeachment case — more than most of the viewers at home, here’s my best analysis, my best take on what’s going on. After one break I may well say boy, I thought the prosecution, the House Democratic managers, had a good hour there. And the next segment it might be, I thought the White House lawyers had a very good segment.“That isn’t really that I’m expressing opinion or changing my mind. I’m just giving you my best read on what I’ve just seen, which is I think kind of the value I can add in that kind of commentary situation.”Why he didn't want Sunday's Trump interviewWallace was about to board a plane for Miami; he’ll host “Fox News Sunday” there, kicking off Super Bowl coverage. But is he disappointed that Sean Hannity, who often serves as a Trump apologist on his primetime show on Fox News, scored the big pre-game interview with the president?“No, interestingly enough,” Wallace said. “The reason is because I think it’s a tough interview to do, in the sense that when you get your chance — and the last one I had was in November of 2018 — to sit down with the president, you really want to probe. You maybe get a chance once a year, once every couple of years, and you want to really probe.”The format Sunday won’t offer that chance, he said.“I think the audience a
Trump doesn't like Fox News' Chris Wallace. But he's not the liberal hero you might think
Chris Wallace, the Fox News anchor and host of “Fox News Sunday,” is known as a straight shooter.As well he should be. But it’s become a rare enough commodity in an age of polarized politics — and media that are polarized right along with them — that it’s notable. So notable, in fact, that when he told conservative commentator Katie Pavlich to “get your facts straight” during coverage of the impeachment trial of Donald Trump on Monday, it spawned an explosion of tweets and stories making Wallace sound like a liberal hero.Spoiler alert: He’s not. Nor does he want to be.“It’s silly,” Wallace, who came to Fox News from ABC in 2003, said of the reaction. “I’m not advocating a point of view. I’m simply trying to act as an umpire and call balls and strikes and, particularly if it’s a factual matter, to say, well that’s just not true. I don’t see that, frankly, as expressing an opinion or commenting.”WHAT TO KNOW: 7 things to keep in mind while watching the impeachment trialMORE: Donald Trump again hits Fox News – and Chris Wallace – this time over impeachment coverage'I’m just giving you my best read'Maybe not. But Wallace has shown a willingness to challenge his colleagues. This being Fox News, he’s often lumped in during impeachment breaks with a panel — all the networks favor them these days, though it’s not clear to anyone who actually watches why they do — that's often uniformly conservative. If it sounds like he’s sometimes taking them to task, that’s not really the point.“It really isn’t an opinion,” he said of his contributions. “I’m just telling you my analysis after 50 years in the business and somebody who has studied impeachment — both the history of impeachment and this particular impeachment case — more than most of the viewers at home, here’s my best analysis, my best take on what’s going on. After one break I may well say boy, I thought the prosecution, the House Democratic managers, had a good hour there. And the next segment it might be, I thought the White House lawyers had a very good segment.“That isn’t really that I’m expressing opinion or changing my mind. I’m just giving you my best read on what I’ve just seen, which is I think kind of the value I can add in that kind of commentary situation.”Why he didn't want Sunday's Trump interviewWallace was about to board a plane for Miami; he’ll host “Fox News Sunday” there, kicking off Super Bowl coverage. But is he disappointed that Sean Hannity, who often serves as a Trump apologist on his primetime show on Fox News, scored the big pre-game interview with the president?“No, interestingly enough,” Wallace said. “The reason is because I think it’s a tough interview to do, in the sense that when you get your chance — and the last one I had was in November of 2018 — to sit down with the president, you really want to probe. You maybe get a chance once a year, once every couple of years, and you want to really probe.”The format Sunday won’t offer that chance, he said.“I think the audience a
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