CNN and Fox News Channel Chiefs Slam Each Other; "They're Out Of The News Business"

A war of words has started between the chiefs of CNN and Fox News Channel, with each claiming that the other person's news business is over and done with, the Associated Press reported.

It all started when Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes said in an interview published this week that it was interesting for CNN "to throw in the towel and announce they're out of the news business," in reference to CNN President Jeff Zucker's attempt at extending CNN beyond the realm of breaking news.

"We happen to be in the business, as opposed to some other fair and balanced network," Zucker retaliated at a news conference on Friday.

Zucker said that Ailes' remarks, published in the Hollywood Reporter, was a way to divert publicity from a scandalous book that is being published on him by New York magazine writer Gabriel Sherman this month, according to the AP.

Although Zucker denied having read the book, he said he had heard it confirmed that "the Republican Party is being run out of News Corp. headquarters masquerading as a cable news channel."

The Hollywood Reporter interview had been given by Ailes back in December, which thwarts any claims of it having to do with the release of Sherman's book "The Loudest Voice in the Room," said a Fox News spokeswoman.

According to the AP, in pushing CNN to diversify, Zucker has admitted the truth of flat ratings. Zucker, in charge of CNN for a year now, has also beefed up CNN's documentary film unit. Chef Anthony Bourdain and Morgan Spurlock non-fiction shows, ordered before Zucker came to CNN, are consistently among the networks' highest-rated shows.

Ailes also made some remarks about killer whales depicted in the recently successful documentary "Blackfish." "I guess he's going to do whales a lot," Ailes said. "If I were Discovery, I'd be worried."

Although CNN is looking to make many other new non-fiction shows, its first priority will remain news, Zucker said.

"CNN is not and never will abandon our first and fundamental brand equity, which is news and breaking news," Zucker said.

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