CNN President Jeff Zucker will speak at an Institute of Politics (IOP) panel at the end of the month on the American public’s distrust of the media.
Zucker caused a stir at his November visit to Harvard’s IOP, where a formal dinner erupted into loud public criticism by Republican presidential campaign operatives outraged at CNN’s extensive coverage of Donald Trump. The rival strategists argued that the network denied their candidates air time in favor of live streaming footage of empty podiums at Trump rallies.
The event will be an installment in the IOP’s America in the Trump Era series.
Zucker has admitted that the exhaustive coverage was “a mistake” but argued that Trump frequently agreed to come on the air for interviews, whereas other candidates were often unavailable. His claim that candidates turned down offers to come on air was met with booing and heckling.
The panel will also include CBS News President David Rhodes and Ann Marie Lipinski, curator of Harvard’s Nieman Foundation for Journalism and former vice president of civic engagement at the University of Chicago. It will be moderated by IOP Visiting Fellow Matt Bai, national political columnist at Yahoo News.
The event will be on January 26 at 6:15 p.m.