Fox News host Juan Williams appeared to throw his network under the bus though he stopped short of calling it a “propaganda network.”

The co-host of “The Five” agreed that the lines between Fox News and the Trump administration are “blurry” in an interview with Hill.TV on Monday.

“The line between Fox News and this White House are blurry at best,” Hill.TV host Krystal Ball said.

“Blurry?” Williams scoffed. “I think they’re joined at … ”

“They don’t exist,” Ball interjected.

“They are joined at the hip,” Williams finished as Ball agreed.

“I mean, they are joined at the hip. And Fox News perpetuates a lot of the cultural clash points that you are talking about here,” she said. “What is it like being a person of color on that network?”

Williams, who is also a columnist for The Hill, noted that his “dissenting,” left-leaning opinions are “important” on Fox News.

“Well, I think it’s important. Because for me, it means that I’m inside that bubble,” he explained.

“So I think when people get locked into one way of thinking or another, sometimes they lose sight or the perspective of other people and it’s so easy then, I think, to put people who have different kind of thinking or different kind of life in a bubble and say these people are so different, they’re the other or they’re threatening,” Williams added. “So for me it’s an opportunity.”

Williams was optimistic that his presence on the network shows that he can help change the mindsets of some viewers.

“The audience, it’s not that they dislike me, it’s just that they disagree with me and I have the opportunity to make my case,” he said. “Oftentimes I get run over or, if I’m not prepared, I get crushed. But my voice is there, no one’s telling me what to say. And I think it’s so important at this juncture when we’re so politically polarized to have actual conversation. And I think Fox makes actual conversation, including a dissenting voice available to the viewers.”

“Have you expressed concerns to the higher-ups there about that non-existent line between the White House and the network?” Ball asked. “I mean, it’s basically become a propaganda network.”

“Well, I don’t agree with that, but it’s my — it’s above my pay grade, let me just say that,” Williams responded. “Where I am allowed to have a voice is with my colleagues, with fellow hosts. When they say things I think are wrong or even repugnant, I am clear about my feelings. It doesn’t make me the most popular boy in school, but I think it’s pretty clear.”

When asked if he would like to share an example, Williams was reluctant.

“No, I think that’s best left unsaid,” he said, “but I think it’s so obvious because it’s such a point of controversy in the media world.”

Before joining Fox News, Williams was a senior news analyst for National Public Radio. He was fired in 2010 after making comments that he would get “nervous” and “worried” when boarding a plane with people who appeared to be Muslim.

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Frieda Powers

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Originally from New York, Powers graduated from New York University and eventually made her way to sunny South Florida where she has been writing for the BizPacReview team since 2015.

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