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Fox News Ends Interview After Benghazi Criticism

A Pulitzer Prize-winning author is upset after his interview on Fox News was cut short following his criticism of the network, and says producers knew what his talking points would be ahead of time...
Fox News Ends Interview After Benghazi Criticism
Written by Amanda Crum
  • A Pulitzer Prize-winning author is upset after his interview on Fox News was cut short following his criticism of the network, and says producers knew what his talking points would be ahead of time…yet his segment was abruptly cut in half.

    Thomas E. Ricks–who is also a defense reporter–was a guest on the show anchored by Jon Scott and wanted to address the attacks in Benghazi which left four people dead, including a United States ambassador. When he called the event “hyped”–especially by Fox News–Scott questioned him on it, asking, “When you have four people dead, including the first U.S. ambassador in more than 30 years, how do you call that hype?”

    Ricks responded, “How many security contractors died in Iraq? Do you know? Nobody does, because nobody cared. We know that several hundred died, but there was never an official count done of security contractors dead in Iraq. So when I see this focus on what was essentially a small firefight, I think, No. 1, I’ve covered a lot of firefights, it’s impossible to figure out what happens in them sometimes. And second, I think that the emphasis on Benghazi has been extremely political, partly because Fox was operating as a wing of the Republican Party.”

    At that point, Scott thanked Ricks and the segment was quickly ended, much to the author’s surprise. He says he was later called “rude” by a Fox staffer, but disagrees.

    “I thought I was being honest,” he said. “They asked my opinion, and I gave it.”

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