On Friday’s Cavuto: Coast to Coast, Media Research Center president Brent Bozell lashed out on the Fox Business Network (FBN) at CNN’s atrocious handling of the Donna Brazile scandal and the media’s collective refusal to report heavily on the WikiLeaks e-mails illustrating a pattern of collusion between reporters and the Clinton campaign.
In light of how CNN head Jeff Zucker largely passed off a vague internal review of how Brazile gave town hall questions to the Clintons, Bozell ruled that he doesn’t “think any Republican should ever go on that network again until this is resolved.”
Host Neil Cavuto explained that not only the Brazile scandal but also CNBC’s John Harwood cozying up to the Clinton campaign through favorable interviews and complimenting them definitely “smells — that’s what comes out the most to me.”
“It validates your worst fears. You have the media that have been clearly, not just in the tank for Hillary Clinton, but on a destroying mission for Donald Trump. There's no question about that. Look at the coverage that we found. 91 percent negative against Trump,” Bozell responded.
Cavuto conceded that “[i]t’s easy to pick apart our competitors and sometimes almost too easy” but yet “when you have so many, and this extends beyond just one individual reporter but a pattern of behavior” that’s “so unsettling here because it produces the type of vanilla coverage that avoids good journalism.”
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Bozell then stepped in to point out that the WikiLeaks e-mails from John Podesta’s account “results in a public genuflection to the Clinton campaign that we saw on the CNBC debate that they moderated” that fed into a recent “Rasmussen poll that came out about these moderators by 8 to 1, the American people believe the moderators are doing the bidding of Hillary Clinton and they’re right.”
Turning to Brazile, Bozell slammed her for “[lying] through her teeth...on national television to Megyn Kelly” following the third presidential debate which featured “the religion card and the race card at the same time” amidst her fibbing.
As for Zucker, Bozell unloaded on Zucker’s “completely unacceptable” behavior:
So what did Jeff Zucker do? He announced that they had done an investigation which was now complete. That is so utterly unacceptable. You know, this idea the people’s right to know stops at the water’s edge of journalism. You've got CNN that has violated the public trust. Ever since reporter, even the good ones, has been tarred by this. I don't think anybody could or should ever trust CNN again especially when they leave it at well, well, we’ve investigated it and we are done.
“No, they’ve got to come clean. They’ve got to explain what happened, who did it, and what are the steps to remedy it. Otherwise you can't — I don't think any Republican should ever go on that network again until this is resolved. I really mean that,” Bozell concluded.
The transcript of Bozell’s appearance on FBN’s Cavuto: Coast to Coast from November 4 can be found below.
FBN’s Cavuto: Coast to Coast
November 4, 2016
12:35 p.m. Eastern
NEIL CAVUTO: You know with all the thousands, tens of thousands of emails that have come to light from WikiLeaks, you can get kind of confused but you can also get confused why the mainstream media hasn't gotten in great depth to reporting this until you start realizing that a lot of these e-mail exchanges involve mainstream media. Now, the case of John Harwood, of course, prominent correspondent for CNBC and NBC, it’s one thing trying to advocate to try to get an interview. We all make pitches for an interview. It is quite another to cross an editorial line. Take this one to John Podesta: “Thanks...for [a] chance to meet w/HRC this week [that's Hillary Clinton] this week. I did my best to lobby for first econ interview [economic interview].” To Media Research Center president Brent Bozell. The media are not really bringing up stories like this. I doubt they brought up across the river here at our rival organization here but what was even more interesting about that is Harwood and a lot of others who were trying to give a heads up to the Hillary Clinton campaign about threatening candidates about Ben Carson, about what might or might not come up in a debate and I extended to Donna Brazile in her days as adviser to CNN, outlining the exact questions that would come up at candidate forms, you know, Brent Bozell, MRC founder, president, that's what's smells — that’s what comes out the most to me.
BRENT BOZELL: Yeah. Yeah, it validates your worst fears. You have the media that have been clearly, not just in the tank for Hillary Clinton, but on a destroying mission for Donald Trump. There's no question about that. Look at the coverage that we found. 91 percent negative against Trump. Then you've got those in the journalism like a Jorge Ramos and others that are publicly stating that news reporters need to go against Donald Trump and now the trifecta is these WikiLeaks that are showing how these reporters behind the scenes are actively working with the Clinton campaign. There are a dozen examples of this and most of them deal just with the Podesta e-mail. God only knows, God only knows how many e-mails were really out there with the media in collusion with the Hillary Clinton campaign.
CAVUTO: It's easy to pick apart our competitors and sometimes almost too easy, right? But I've lost many in interview because I wouldn't agree to some prove, I wouldn't agree, well, don't bring this, don't bring up this and I can't agree to that and on that, it doesn't mean that I regret losing — I don't regret losing the interview. I do, but when you have so many, and this extends beyond just one individual reporter but a pattern of behavior. It’s as if we want to maintain a good relations with the Hillary Clinton, with Hillary Clinton herself, with John Podesta, with all the power people for whatever reason, be invited to the White House or be invited to events, that's what's so unsettling here because it produces the type of vanilla coverage that avoids good journalism.
BOZELL: Yeah, but I’ll go a step further from this. It also results in a public genuflection to the Clinton campaign that we saw on the CNBC debate that they moderated and who was their chief moderator? John Harwood and he — and before a national audience, he just oozed his public contempt for every Republican there on the stage. Here’s an interesting thing. I love — Neil, I love the confidence that I have in the American people. Look at a Rasmussen poll that came out about these moderators. By 8 to 1, the American people believe the moderators are doing the bidding of Hillary Clinton and they’re right.
CAVUTO: Yeah. Given the number, moderators and how we’ve had that — that’s right. You know what's interesting, I will raise it later in this show with our Dagen McDowell. You probably heard about this Florida Daily Commercial newspaper. I guess they are in Lake and Centric counties in Florida. They issue a big mea culpa admitting that they had not had a balanced enough approach to the 2016 presidential election. They go on to say, now of course, they shift her, but the wired services the Daily Commercial subscribes to turn out stories that fact-check Trump, which is warranted but don't do the same — I'm paraphrasing here, fact-checking Hillary Clinton, but they felt guilty enough to do this or maybe they were having enough reader revolt to do this. I would like to see how the news organizations do the same.
BOZELL: Okay, now let's come it to CNN with Jeff Zucker and the reaction to Donna Brazile, who we now know least twice was giving answers to the Clinton campaign who we now know lied though her teeth. I don't like saying that but she lied through her teeth on national television to Megyn Kelly.
CAVUTO: Well, she even incorporated Jesus. She — you know — I thought that as a little much.
BOZELL: She brought in persecution. She played the religion card and the race card at the same time but also in one of these e-mails, said to them that quote, unquote, “from time to time” I get the answers. So who knows how many times she's done it. So what did Jeff Zucker do? He announced that they had done an investigation which was now complete. That is so utterly unacceptable. You know, this idea the people’s right to know stops at the water’s edge of journalism. You've got CNN that has violated the public trust. Ever since reporter, even the good ones, has been tarred by this. I don't think anybody could or should ever trust CNN again especially when they leave it at well, well, we’ve investigated it and we are done. No, they’ve got to come clean. They’ve got to explain what happened, who did it, and what are the steps to remedy it. Otherwise you can't — I don't think any Republican should ever go on that network again until this is resolved. I really mean that.
CAVUTO: Well, it is a mess. I want to thank you very, very much. Brent Bozell, MRC founder and president.
BOZELL: Thank you, Neil.
CAVUTO: And a lot of people say, well, you know, he's Mr. Right-wing. I think, well, when incidents like this pop up and you can actually see e-mail exchanges, well it does make you wonder and at least question why so many news organizations are not reporting on these developments. Well because they’re part of them. You know, they’re part of them.
