CNN President Jeff Zucker lashed out at Fox News on Thursday, blasting the conservative-leaning network as “state-run TV.”
“[Fox News] is really state-run TV,” he said at an industry conference, according to The Hollywood Reporter. “It is a pure propaganda machine and I think does incredible disservice to this country.”
Zucker also said he had noticed a change at Fox News since the ouster of its former CEO Roger Ailes, who resigned in 2016 amid sexual misconduct allegations. Ailes, who ran the network for two decades, died last year.
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Zucker acknowledged that there are some “good journalists” at Fox News, but argued that their voices have been drowned out by “propaganda.”
“There are a handful of good journalists there, but I think they are lost in what is a complete propaganda machine,” he said, according to the report.
Fox News has long leaned conservative, and many critics have noted a strong pro-Trump tone since he took office. The president is also a regular viewer of the network, and Fox News hosts including Sean Hannity and Jeanine Pirro regularly talk to him.