Fox Interview Ends After Author Criticizes Network

A reporter and author was being interviewed by Fox News, but the anchor quickly ended the interview when the subject criticized the network for “operating as a wing of the Republican Party.”

The Associated Press reports that Thomas Ricks, a veteran journalist and author of The Generals, was being interviewed by anchor Jon Scott. The interview was about Republican criticism of UN Ambassador Susan Rice’s comments about the attacks.

ThinkProgress notes that the interview with Fox News would last only one minute and 45 seconds. Scott sets up the interview by highlighting Ricks’ credentials, saying he has covered the military for decades. When Scott asks a question about John McCain backing off his previous statements about Rice, Ricks blasted Fox News.

“I think that Benghazi generally was hyped, by this network especially, and that now that the campaign is over, I think he’s backing off a little bit,” Ricks said. “They’re not going to stop Susan Rice from being secretary of state.”

Scott makes the point that the Benghazi attack led to the first death of an American ambassador in such a situation is hardly hype, but Ricks countered by asking the anchor how many contractors died in Iraq. Scott said he didn’t know, and Ricks said no one knows because no one cares, intimating perhaps that Fox News didn’t cover than because there was no political angle for the network. He then called Fox a “wing of the Republican Party.

Scott wrapped up the interview then and there, with the segment running about half as long as planned.

http://youtu.be/AMZgxeoDLPI

(Photo by Terry Ballard)