Writing The First Draft Of History

Fox News' senior White House correspondent Jacqui Heinrich is scheduled to speak at The Dreamland on August 18th at 5 p.m. in conversation with N Magazine and Nantucket Current publisher Bruce A. Percelay. In advance of the event, read a preview of Percelay's interview with Heinrich that will appear in the September issue of N Magazine: 

Do you feel that Fox News as a network has an innate leaning toward the right, or is that simply public perception?

Heinrich: No. If you watch our reporting, it’s apparent we cover every story from all sides fairly. The show that I anchor, we book Democrats every show. Just as we reach out to a Republican lawmaker, we reach out to a Democrat lawmaker. That’s almost every Sunday show that I host. I would push back on the presumption that there’s a leaning.

Every network has its editorial, opinion side, and that’s the nature of cable news. But the reporting we do on this channel is straight up and down.

The Trump era is a very new experience for the media. We have not had a president with as much influence over the media, and some of it is punitive. Does that put a chill on the media’s coverage of the president?

Heinrich: No, I don’t think so. I think that as we saw at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, he shook the hands of the journalists that were honored for their work that night, and all of those stories were critical of him, including the Wall Street Journal reporters who broke the story [of an alleged letter from Trump to Jeffrey Epstein]. He was very annoyed with that storyline and made no secret about that. I don’t think that it has had any impact on our pursuit of the facts and telling people what’s going on here at the White House.

Does his willingness to go after the media in the courts for reporting stories he does not appreciate have any impact?

Heinrich: You’re talking to the person in the chair, asking the president or the press secretary a question in the briefing room or a question in the Oval Office. I have not—and my colleagues have not—been told by their managers to stop asking questions. I think that’s apparent every single time the president is on camera. The threat of litigation is something that we’re not privy to, but it’s not something that has, in practice, stopped our line of questioning, and I think that history speaks for itself on that.

The president seems to enjoy interaction with the press. How accessible is he?

Heinrich: There’s no question about that. I could call him right now, and he’d pick up the phone. I’ve gotten calls from him before. He engages routinely with reporters, including some of the reporters he has the most contentious relationship with. I think that’s something that is unique to him, and I’d be surprised if we saw it again. I’m sure the Secret Service isn’t too thrilled at how many people have his cell phone number. It’s something that I’ll remember forever: being able to phone the president and ask what’s going on at any given time.

Read the full interview in the upcoming September issue of N Magazine.

To buy tickets for the Dreamland Conversations event with Heinrich and Percelay, click here.