CNN President Jeff Zucker: “We're Not Going To Be Shamed” Into Covering Benghazi Select Committee

Written by Hannah Groch-Begley

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Jeff Zucker

CNN President Jeff Zucker reportedly said his network would not “to be shamed into” covering the new special House committee investigating the 2012 attacks in Benghazi by “others who have political beliefs that want to try to have temper tantrums.”

Zucker discussed his plans for the network at the Deadline Club's May 19 annual awards dinner during an interview with New York Times television reporter Bill Carter, Capital New York reported. When asked about the new select committee formed by House Republicans this month to yet again investigate the attacks on U.S. diplomatic facilities, Zucker criticized “other news organizations” who attempt to “shame” journalists, adding, “If it's of real news value, we'll cover it”:

And will it cover the special committee hearings by House Republicans to probe the 2012 Benghazi embassy attack? Zucker told Carter he didn't know yet.

“We're not going to be shamed into it by others who have political beliefs that want to try to have temper tantrums to shame other news organizations into covering something,” he said. “If it's of real news value, we'll cover it.”

Fox News has been the primary media force behind the Benghazi hoax since September 2012. In addition to consistently pushing phony outrage and misinformation about Benghazi, Fox has frequently issued attacks on “mainstream media” for supposedly failing to adequately cover the story. The network began pushing for the establishment of a select committee in July 2013; after one was announced in early May, the network bragged that their coverage was in part responsible. Fox has since attempted to dictate the terms of Democratic cooperation with the investigation.

Despite their excitement, the questions Fox insists the new committee will “answer” have already been well-documented and explained, and given that the attacks have already been examined by an independent State Department panel as well as at least five House and three Senate committees, whether the new committee finds anything Zucker would deem “of real news value” remains to be seen.

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