A spat between Fox News and a Pulitzer-Prize winning reporter whose interview was cut off after he criticized the network has lingered into a second day.
The two sides — the network and the reporter, Tom Ricks — are going back and forth over the aftermath of Monday's interview. During that appearance, Ricks slammed Fox's "hyped" coverage of the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi and called it a "wing of the Republican Party."
On Tuesday, Fox executive vice president of news Michael Clemente told The Hollywood Reporter that Ricks, who writes for ForeignPolicy.com, had privately issued the network an apology after the appearance. That was firmly denied by Ricks in a subsequent interview with Politico.
Here's Clemente's email to THR:
“When Mr. Ricks ignored the anchor’s question, it became clear that his goal was to bring attention to himself — and his book. He apologized in our offices afterward but doesn’t have the strength of character to do that publicly."
And here's Ricks' emailed response to Politico:
“Clemente is making it up, and it is sloppy of Hollywood Reporter to not ask him for specifics — what exactly am I alleged to have said? — and also to seek a response from me. Why are they doing this? Because their MO is that when the facts aren’t on their side, they attack the person.”
Both Ricks and Fox News didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.