After several news organizations were shut out of a White House question and answer session on Friday, other media figures began to speak out.

I gave the original story of their reaction here, and the discussion back and forth ranged from those like myself, who fear even the hint of media suppression, to those who think a left biased media getting a taste of retribution is long overdue.

I’ll say this: When President Obama went after Fox News, even spying on and targeting Fox News reporter, James Rosen, CNN and other “left biased” news organizations circled the wagons and cried “Foul!”

Fox News has gained favor with the new administration, by acting as Trump’s campaign headquarters and his fan club base. Even they, however, are speaking out against having legitimately credentialed news organizations cut out of yesterday’s gaggle.

The latest to speak up is Fox anchor Shepard Smith. Specifically, he defended CNN, the news agency Trump has been feuding with, most recently.

“For the record, ‘fake news’ refers to stories that are created, often by entities pretending to be news organizations, solely to draw clicks and views and are based on nothing of substance,” Smith said during his program.

“In short, fake news is made up nonsense delivered for financial gain. CNN’s reporting was not fake news. Its journalists followed the same standards to which other news organizations, including Fox News, adhere,” he added.

Others that were excluded were The Hill, Politico, Buzzfeed, the Daily Mail, the Los Angeles Times, BBC, and New York Daily News.

Another argument some of Trump’s apologists have mustered is that the use of anonymous sources should cast doubt on any story.

Trump, himself, has called for all sources to be named, in order to “face” him.

Let’s just overlook the obvious bully stance, and the fact that Trump has cited the National Enquirer as a legitimate news source, relying solely on the anonymous sources that linked Ted Cruz’s father to the killing of John F. Kennedy, or the anonymous sources that ran a front page story about Cruz’s multiple affairs.

Smith maintained that talking with White House officials off the record does not fit into the category of fake news.

“Senior administration officials regularly speak without attribution so that the public can be informed of what our government is doing, off the record,” he said.

And as unpopular as this opinion is with those who value revenge against all leftists over holding our government accountable and keeping them transparent, no matter what party is in charge, I will maintain my own stance. Bullying the media, attempting to shut out any organization that is adversarial is not the American way, and we should be wary of any administration that practices it.