CNN Tells Republicans Go Sell Crazy Somewhere Else By Refusing to Cover Benghazi

CNN boss Jeff Zucker has let it be known that his network won’t be bullied by Fox News into covering Benghazi and that CNN won’t be covering Benghazi unless it becomes legitimate news.

During a recent interview, CNN boss Jeff Zucker said, “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.”

This came from the man who runs a network that spend weeks obsessing over a missing airplane. Republicans desperately need CNN and MSNBC to treat their Benghazi special committee circus as legitimate news. If CNN won’t go gavel to gavel with their coverage, it is going to be impossible for Republicans to convince the American people that their conspiracy theory is a legitimate news story.

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It’s not a coincidence that other networks are backing away from the story after seeing the drop in Fox News’ ratings after they went all in on Benghazi coverage. What Zucker was saying is that if Benghazi were to become a legitimate news story, CNN would cover it, but right now, Benghazi isn’t newsworthy, so no matter how much Fox News screams at the top of their lungs, CNN won’t be covering the story.

Most of the media isn’t playing along with the Republican attempts to manipulate them into covering Benghazi. Through seven previous investigations, Republicans have found no evidence of wrongdoing by the White House. Benghazi is the ultimate non-story. Viewers outside of hard core Republicans aren’t interested.

House Republicans can’t even explain what the “crime” is. For the first time in years, the mainstream media is telling Republicans no. The mainstream media has been enabling Republican insanity for years, by treating their conspiracies and crackpot theories as if they are legitimate news. The media isn’t playing along anymore.

This means that Fox News is standing by themselves, and hemorrhaging viewers, by trying to do the Republican Party’s dirty work on Benghazi. CNN is letting Republicans know that they aren’t going to be a pawn in the Republican plan to use Benghazi to bring down Obama.

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association