CNN President Jeff Zucker claimed that network media analyst Brian Stelter was wrong for claiming that Fox News divides their opinion from straight news.
Zucker made the comment during Stelter’s interview of him at their “Citizen” event Thursday afternoon.
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While discussing former Fox News anchor Shepard Smith’s departure and what it meant for the network, Stelter stated, “They say they have dozens of great journalists.”
“Yeah, well, you repeat that line a lot, and I think it’s one of the mistakes you make in your journalism, and I’m serious about this,” Zucker responded. “You know I believe that, listen, are there a handful of really good journalists in that organization? Sure. Is there one or two really good anchors at that organization? Sure. But that doesn’t make it a news organization, and it doesn’t make it a journalistic enterprise.”
He went on to call Fox News “state-run TV,” and argued that the conservative-leaning network has “morphed into conspiracy TV.”
“You often say that there’s this difference between their prime-time shows and the news side, there is no difference and I think that I don’t see it that way. I know that you report it that way a lot, I think you’re wrong,” Zucker added.
When Stelter asked for evidence to back that claim, the CNN executive told him to “watch it,” which elicited laughs from Stelter and the crowd.
