CNN chief: Trump has made American journalism great again

CNN president Jeff Zucker said Thursday that President Trump has returned excellence to at least one American institution: journalism.

Speaking at Business Insider’s Ignition conference in New York, Zucker said that he is proud of the quality of work currently coming out of news outlets including CNN, The New York Times and The Washington Post.

“The one thing I know for sure is that Donald Trump has made American journalism great again,” he said.

{mosads}

Zucker said that since Trump was elected, the network has seen an unprecedented “bump” in television and digital audience levels.

“CNN’s been around for 37 years, this is the most-watched year in the history of CNN on television,” he said. “We’d be at the top if there were global rankings.”

“We could never have anticipated the audience level that we’re seeing now and the interest in both our television and digital properties,” Zucker added.

Trump and CNN have clashed repeatedly throughout his campaign and presidency, with Trump repeatedly dismissing the network as “fake news.”

Trump tweeted over Thanksgiving weekend that the international wing of CNN represents the U.S. “very poorly” to the rest of the world.

.@FoxNews is MUCH more important in the United States than CNN, but outside of the U.S., CNN International is still a major source of (Fake) news, and they represent our Nation to the WORLD very poorly. The outside world does not see the truth from them!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 25, 2017

CNN fired back at Trump, saying it’s Trump’s job, not theirs, to represent the U.S.

It’s not CNN’s job to represent the U.S to the world. That’s yours. Our job is to report the news. #FactsFirst

— CNN Communications (@CNNPR) November 25, 2017

“He is a terrible media critic,” Zucker joked.

Earlier this week, CNN said it would boycott the White House Christmas party over the tense relationship, to which Trump responded, “Great.”