Washington, Jan 8 : US President Donald Trump has announced that will postpone the announcement of his “Fake News Awards of 2017” to January 17, citing high interest.

File Photo: US President Donald Trump

“The Fake News Awards, those going to the most corrupt and biased of the mainstream media, will be presented to the losers on Wednesday, January 17, rather than this coming Monday,” the President tweeted on Sunday.

“The interest in, and importance of, these awards is far greater than anyone could have anticipated.”

Trump has often labelled media coverage critical of his administration as “fake news”, accusing leading US media outlets of spreading “fake news” against him during the presidential election campaign as well as after he became President.

In December, multiple American news outlets reported that the White House was planning to remove the current head of the State Department, as his relationship with Trump was “strained”.

Trump denied it as “FAKE NEWS!” on Twitter, and added that “He’s not leaving… We work well together.”

On December 11, Trump dismissed a New York Times report that he watched four to even eight hours of television each day.

“Another false story, this time in the Failing @nytimes, that I watch 4-8 hours of television a day – Wrong!” Trump Tweeted.

Responding to Trump, Clifford Levy, a deputy managing editor at New York Times, tweeted that the newspaper stood by its story, which was based on 60 interviews.

(IANS)