CNN Worldwide President Jeff Zucker said on Dec. 3 during a conversation with Ben Smith, editor of BuzzFeed at the Paley Center for Media, that CNN does not pay any candidates to attend its debates. Questioned about Donald Trump's demand for $5 million to appear in the next round of GOP debates to be aired on CNN on Dec. 15, Zucker replied, "We do not pay candidate to appear at debates," reports The Wrap.
Trump was of the opinion that since the debates were grossing high amounts, and it was his presence that got the money in, he deserved a share. He had said that he would be donating the money he got as payment. You can read about Trump's demand here at HNGN.
When Smith asked Zucker if he had any regrets in making Trump the media personality he is, according to The Los Angeles Times, Zucker replied: "I understood 'The Apprentice' was 'Survivor' in a different jungle and everybody was looking for their 'Survivor.' I understood immediately what Donald Trump was and what it meant to have him at the center of that show. I have no regrets about 'The Apprentice.' It was absolutely the right decision and it turned out to be a phenomenal decision for NBC for a long time. So that was a good move. I have no regrets about the part that I played in his career."
"There have been people who have asked about the amount of coverage that Trump gets and I don't think it's our role to editorialize the way you are in asking me the questions," Zucker said, replying to a question by Smith that Trump was running a "bigoted, lying campaign," according to TVNewser.
Not one to give up, Smith asked Zucker if it was actually editorializing when one said that Trump was a demagogue or a bigot. "I think that is your opinion. I'm not taking a point of view. I don't think it's our role to take a point of view. It's our role to report what he says, what he does, to fact check what he says, what he does. Really it's not our role to build up a campaign. Or take down a campaign. It's our role to be skeptical of what every candidate puts out there and says," said Zucker in response, according to the Washington Post.
