Washington Free Beacon executive editor Sonny Bunch appeared Friday morning on Fox News' "Red Eye" and discussed a recent story the New York Times published on former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, saying if he were given the story he would have sent it back to the writer.
Host Tom Shillue outlined the story reported by the Times on Wednesday, which described how Perry, President-elect Donald Trump's nominee for secretary of energy, misunderstood the job and thought he was going to be a "global ambassador for the American oil and gas industry."
"The only problem with the piece?" Shillue asked. "It's not true."
The Times report had one source who later told the Daily Caller the story and even the headline were not an accurate portrayal of what he told the newspaper.
Shillue asked Bunch if the Times story could be counted as "fake news."
"Well, if we're talking about setting the tone for 2017, this New York Times story totally sets the tone for 2017, right?" Bunch said.
He described the story as "ridiculous from top to bottom" and said there was proof that Perry knew what the job entailed.
Bunch then lambasted the Times for having insufficient sources, adding that if he would have received the piece as an editor, he would have sent it right back to the writer for that reason.
"There are no sources to the story," Bunch said. "I mean, if my writers turned this in to me at the Washington Free Beacon, which is far more reputable than the garbage New York Times, we would have sent it back and said, 'Please, find somebody who is reputable to say these things.'"