Six American media outlets came under attack by President Donald Trump and the GOP in an announcement styled as a "Fake News Awards."
Trump on Twitter: And the FAKE NEWS winners are...
The president posted a link to a website for the Republican National Committee that carried the announcement, but the page went down for many users just a few moments after first going live.
The media outlets criticized in the announcement were The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN, Newsweek, Time and ABC News.
Trump, since campaigning for the White House, has repeatedly slammed the media for its coverage about him and his administration.
Hours before the announcement, Republican Sen. Jeff Flake slammed Trump's attacks on the media to Stalin's reference to the press as "the enemy of the people."
"So fraught with malice was the phrase 'enemy of the people,' that even Nikita Khrushchev forbade its use, telling the Soviet Communist Party that the phrase had been introduced by Stalin for the purpose of 'annihilating such individuals' who disagreed with the supreme leader," the retiring Arizona Republican lawmaker said in a speech on the Senate floor.
He said dictators like Syria's Bashar Assad's now use the phrase "fake news" against critics.