BROOKE BALDWIN (HOST): On this Indiana primary day, we have now seen Senator Ted Cruz going off like you really haven't seen him before. Not only ripping into Donald Trump but also blasting Fox News, accusing top executives of rallying behind the Republican front-runner and pushing the narrative that Senator Cruz cannot win the party nomination. Here he was.
[BEGIN CLIP]
TED CRUZ: There was a broader dynamic at work, which is network executives have made a decision to get behind Donald Trump. Rupert Murdoch and Roger Ailes at Fox News have turned Fox News into the Donald Trump Network 24/7. Now, Rupert Murdoch is used to picking world leaders in Australia and the United Kingdom running tabloids, and we're seeing it here at home with the consequences for this nation. Media executives are trying to convince Hoosiers, trying to convince Americans the race is decided, you have no choice, you are stuck between Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton, either one of which is a horrific choice for this country.
[END CLIP]
BALDWIN: Let's talk about this with CNN's senior reporter for media and politics Dylan Byers. Dylan, Senator Cruz attacking the media. That's nothing new, but watching him today, that attack seemed personal.
DYLAN BYERS: Yea, it is personal, and it's an interesting target of course because it's not the mainstream media, it’s not the New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN. It's Fox News, and it's Roger Ailes and Rupert Murdoch. What Ted Cruz is doing here is he's going for broke. He's trying to convince Indiana voters that they've been sold a bill of goods and that one of the people selling it to them is the Fox News Network. And I think what he's trying to tap into there is there are a lot of -- we tend to think of Fox News as this sort of home for Republicans and conservatives, but of course there are many conservatives out there who view Fox News as the voice of the Republican establishment. He's trying to sort of convince voters who may still be on the fence in these final hours that Fox News, Donald Trump, despite all their bickering over the last nine or ten months are actually in collusion, and if they want a true outsider, a real conservative who represents their interests and not a pathological liar as Ted Cruz has referred to Donald Trump then they need to go with him. It's really a last ditch effort.
BALDWIN: I'm not so sure that will change Hoosiers' minds just having talked to folks in Indiana today these last couple of hours. Do you think, though, attacking Fox News could really hurt Senator Cruz in the long run?
BYERS: Well, in the long run, sure, in the short run, again, he doesn't really have a choice. But in the long run, yeah, it could prove very problematic. Look, let's think about what happens if Ted Cruz does not get the nomination, which is looking increasingly likely, Fox News is still gonna be around come 2017 and beyond. Ted Cruz has already cast himself as the outsider, as the sort of anti-establishment Republican, but going forward Fox News is still a very powerful platform in the Republican party, and if he wants to have any leverage with them whatsoever he might have just burned that bridge and, perhaps, irreparably.
