CNN president Jeff Zucker told a New York crowd on Wednesday that reporting in the era of President Trump has “emboldened” his network to “hold those in power accountable.”
President Trump was on the minds at least two of eight honorees at this year’s Giants of Broadcasting event by the Library of American Broadcasting Foundation and the IRTS Foundation. NBC’s Andrea Mitchell and Mr. Zucker, who were joined by personalities like Barbara Eden of “I Dream of Jeanie” and Jeff Fager of CBS’ “60 Minutes,” used their time in the spotlight to discuss the White House.
“People from the Administration have attacked us, called us names, just for doing our jobs,” Mr. Zucker said, Deadline Hollywood reported. “But that has only emboldened us, made us stronger. It hasn’t hurt the CNN brand in any way; in fact, it’s only enhanced it. It is our job to hold those in power accountable. … They should respect it even if they don’t like it. We have no agenda other than to report the news fairly. I have spent 30 years in the news business. There has never been a more important time.”
Similarly, Ms. Mitchell took issue with the idea that journalists might be “the enemy of the people.”
“As we try to disentangle a very complicated web of facts, always remember that we are not only a group of journalists […] we are storytellers, and as we learn the facts those facts will inform our stories,” she said, the website reported.
Mr. Zucker and Mr. Trump have sparred over objective reporting since the latter’s time as a Republican presidential hopeful. The president has often accused CNN of propagating “fake news” as a means of undermining his messaging.
SEE ALSO: Jeff Zucker, CNN president, attacks Donald Trump’s attempts to ‘delegitimize journalism’
“I like real news, not fake news, and you’re fake news,” Mr. Trump said to CNN’s Jim Acosta as recently as Aug. 14.
“Mr. President, haven’t you spread a lot of fake news yourself, sir?” countered the reporter during an exchange about holding events with limited press pool coverage instead of a formal press conference.
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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