Author and reporter Tom Ricks on Tuesday kept the heat on Fox News Channel after an executive for the network claimed in an interview that the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist apologized in private for his sharp criticism of Fox’s coverage of the September attack in Benghazi.
FNC executive vice president Michael Clemente told the Hollywood Reporter that Ricks apologized behind closed doors following his appearance on the network on Monday, something the Ricks denied ever took place. In an interview with Politico’s Mackenzie Weinger on Tuesday, Ricks gave an even more critical assessment of Clemente’s claims, as well as the journalistic practices of both Fox and the Hollywood Reporter.
“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,” Ricks wrote via email. “Why are they doing this? Because their MO is that when the facts aren’t on their side, they attack the person.”
