CNN’s Jeff Zucker: ‘People Want Someone to Blame’ for Donald Trump’s Rise

By Mark Joyella 

CNN has debated and town halled its way into strong ratings for the 2016 campaign, and much of the focus has been on Republican front-runner Donald Trump.

In an interview with The Guardian, CNN worldwide boss Jeff Zucker says his network has been “holding Trump’s feet to the fire” with its coverage, and not simply driving the Trump train with hour after hour of TV time:

“We are covering the story, and he’s been the Republican frontrunner for almost a year now. I only wish that CNN had that much power to be able to create a frontrunner on either side…The critics of Donald Trump are looking for people to blame for his rise. There are many people who are either surprised by his strength, or don’t like him, and want to blame someone to explain why he has been this popular.”

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To those who ask why CNN goes so deep on so few stories, leaving much world news off the plate entirely, Zucker says the old concept of a “news wheel” has died–with much of the day’s reporting ending up off prime time TV:

“It used to be CNN and other television outlets were founded on this idea of a news wheel. You give us 22 minutes and we’ll give you the world. But that’s not the way people consume news and information any more. So on television we are going to go much deeper on the one, two or three stories of real significance or interest that day, and we are going to satisfy all your news needs and questions digitally.”

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