Jeff Zucker of CNN tells employees after Trump attack: "We have your back"

3:44 PM PST 07/11/2018

by

Jeremy Barr

"The work you do is important," wrote Zucker in a memo. "And that's why we protect our role as a journalist so vigorously."

A few hours after President Trump attacked CNN's chief correspondent in the White House, Jim Acosta, deemed "rude" and "terrible" at a press conference, network president Jeff Zucker said told the employees that CNN was supporting them.

"I want you to know that we have your back," said Zucker in the memo, which was obtained by The Hollywood journalist. "That this organization firmly believes in the protections afforded by the First Amendment and that we will defend them, as well as you, with vigor, every time."

Trump and his spokesman, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, press secretary at the White House, have long insulted Acosta, but the president's attack on Wednesday was the most personal to date.

"CNN should be ashamed to see you working for them," Trump told Acosta. "You are a rude and terrible person, you should not work for CNN, you are a very rude person, the way you treat Sarah Huckabee Sanders is horrible, you should not treat people this way."

In the memo, Zucker said, "The work you do is important, it counts, and that's why we're vigilantly protecting our role as a journalist."

Zucker also said that he wanted to make sure that all employees saw the statement released by the network in response to Trump's attacks on the network, which he described as "enemy of people "(when he was producing" false information ").

"The president's continued attacks on the press have gone too far," the statement said. "They are not only dangerous, they are disturbingly anti-American." While President Trump made it clear that he was not respecting a free press, he had a sworn obligation to protect her. free is essential to democracy, and we are behind Jim Acosta and his fellow journalists all over the world. "

As he did after the network was targeted by a mail bomb, Zucker thanked his employees for their hard work and concentration, citing their "incredible contribution, hours and hours of sleepless days on the road and countless stories produced ".

Zucker concluded, "Thank you for what you did for the mid-term cover, thank you for what you do every day, congratulations for the huge success of yesterday."