CNN’s Jeff Zucker: We Probably Should Not Have Aired So Many Unedited Trump Rallies
Jeff Zucker has long insisted that his network isn’t responsible for the rise of Donald Trump, though it would seem that he’s taking that back to a slight degree.
The CNN Chief is in Boston today for a Kennedy School of Government forum with Harvard University students.
CNN's Jeff Zucker. Why has the media given Trump so much attention? Simple. He always says yes to interviews where other candidates refuse. pic.twitter.com/GYH9D50h2H
— Avantika Chilkoti (@AChilkoti) October 14, 2016
Washington Post‘s Erik Wemple and Politico’s Hadas Gold both covered the event, where Zucker talked about how he feels about the job his network has done covering the Trump campaign:
“We recognized… there was a little bit of a phenom. to Donald Trump” “We did give him quite a bit of coverage” – Zucker
— Hadas Gold (@Hadas_Gold) October 14, 2016
Zucker: "In his defense and in our defense, when we asked him for an interview, he said yes."
— ErikWemple (@ErikWemple) October 14, 2016
Zucker: "Marco Rubio and Jeb Bush went two months without saying yes to an interview."
— ErikWemple (@ErikWemple) October 14, 2016
‘We prob did put on too many of the campaign rallies in the early months unedited … in hindsight we prob shouldn’t have done that as much'
— Hadas Gold (@Hadas_Gold) October 14, 2016
‘We put them on because we never knew what he was going to say. They did also attract quite a bit of an audience. that is true.’ – Zucker
— Hadas Gold (@Hadas_Gold) October 14, 2016
Zucker says no way did CNN treatment vault him to Republican nomination.
— ErikWemple (@ErikWemple) October 14, 2016
‘Certainly didn’t hurt’ that Trump rallies attracted ratings. tho Zucker says they covered it cuz ‘you never knew’ what he was going to say
— Hadas Gold (@Hadas_Gold) October 14, 2016
"I think we thought early on that he had a much better shot than others did," says Zucker, stealing the line of Joe Scarborough.
— ErikWemple (@ErikWemple) October 14, 2016
Beyond too much rallies, Zucker says, "I don't have any regrets."
— ErikWemple (@ErikWemple) October 14, 2016
Zucker did get around to other talking points, one of which was where he made nice with Buzzfeed and admitted that it is a “real news organization.” Zucker’s admission makes sense, considering how CNN recently hired several of Buzzfeed’s biggest players onto their team:
“I just felt like punching them back one day… it’s all in good fun” zucker says of BuzzFeed. “Ok they’re a real news organization.”
— Hadas Gold (@Hadas_Gold) October 14, 2016
Other subjects include CNN’s controversial hiring of Corey Lewandowski, thoughts about Fox’s Megyn Kelly, and the possibility of Zucker developing a social media presence:
"I know that there's a lot of people who don't like Corey Lewandowski"–Zucker, misrepresenting the issue.
— ErikWemple (@ErikWemple) October 14, 2016
“I think she’s a tremendous news anchor &I think she can do whatever she wants and I’ll leave it there” Zucker on @megynkelly
— Hadas Gold (@Hadas_Gold) October 14, 2016
"I never" look at Twitter or Facebook. "If I did, I'd get fired tomorrow," says Zucker.
— ErikWemple (@ErikWemple) October 14, 2016
[Image via Avantika Chilkoti]
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