TRUMP: I'm 'really proud' of my role reducing Americans' trust in media

Donald Trump said Thursday morning that he was "really proud" of his role reducing Americans' trust in media to a historic low.

The Republican presidential candidate, speaking to on a New York radio station to host Fred Dicker, was referencing a Gallup poll which showed that only 32% of Americans had confidence in the media to "report the news fully, accurately and fairly."

"The media has openly been dishonest and I look at that poll and I said, 'Wow.' Because every speech I talk about it," Trump said. "And I have tens of thousands of people showing up to these speeches and they are on television. ... And I will tell you that everybody is talking about the dishonest."

The New York businessman knocked what he characterized as the "total dishonesty" of certain outlets, but seemed to particularly zero in on CNN.

"CNN is unbelievably dishonest," he said. "They call it the Clinton News Network. It's like anything she does is fine. I mean it's the Clinton News - it's a joke. And that's why their ratings are terrible. So it's really been amazing."

Trump added: "I am really proud to say that I think I had a lot to do with that poll number."

The real-estate mogul also appeared to call for the firing of New York Times national political correspondent Jonathan Martin, alleging the reporter says "horrible things" about him on Twitter.

"You have guys like Jonathan Martin who writes for the New York Times, who would have been fired by the late Abe Rosenthal," Trump said, referring to the former editor of the newspaper. "He writes things on Twitter, and other journalists who I don't want to mention by name. But I read some of them by Jonathan Martin and a couple of their writers."

Trump continued: "How can you have a writer, who is supposed to be unbiased, saying horrible things about a person and then he is supposed to write about it? They should be fired immediately."

Trump insisted that Rosenthal "would have fired" someone like Martin "on the spot."

"They would have been fired immediately," he said. "It's a horrible thing that they are doing. And I don't even have to read the story. I just have to see who is the writer of the story and I can tell you if it's going to be good or bad. It's a disgrace."

A representative for the Times did not immediately return a request for comment from Business Insider.

Trump has repeatedly clashed and skewered the press throughout his foray into politics. For months he maintained a blacklist, barring reporters from certain outlets from attending his campaign events. That ban was only lifted earlier this month.