Jeff Zucker, president of CNN worldwide, is rejecting criticism that his network has covered Donald Trump’s presidential campaign to an excessive degree and to the detriment of other candidates.
Cable news in general, but CNN in particular, has been called out by critics, including Republicans, Democrats and journalists, who say that Trump has been given an unfair amount of media coverage.
Since the summer, the billionaire businessman has dominated most TV news coverage, with his boisterous rallies and unpredictable news conferences. Zucker said it’s only fair that the GOP front-runner get the most coverage.
“The front-runner of the party is always going to get a disproportionate amount of attention,” Zucker said in an interview published Wednesday with the media blog TVNewser.
Echoing what other TV news personalities have said, Zucker also explained that Trump has simply been more accessible than other candidates.
“Just because he says ‘yes’ and has subjected himself to those interviews, and [other candidates] don’t, I’m not going to penalize him for saying ‘yes,’ ” he said, explaining that he wouldn’t instruct his producers to back off covering Trump for the sake of giving equal coverage to other campaigns.
Zucker also said he has tried offering opportunities to the Ted Cruz campaign, who is second to Trump in delegates, to no effect.
Cruz’s campaign aides “all said, ‘yes yes, we want to do that,’ ” he said. “And then when we followed up with the invitation, it’s all ‘no.’ My point is, you can’t have it both ways. So I actually reject that premise that we’ve given too much attention to him.”
