CNN's Jeff Zucker blasts Hannity and others on Fox News as 'conspiracy TV'

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That's CNN boss Jeff Zucker firing a shot across the airwaves at rival Fox News during an interview with his network's chief media correspondent, Brian Stelter, in New York on Thursday.

Sean Hannity and his top-rated show, among others on the network, are to blame for, in Zucker's view, having turned Fox into "state-run TV."

Watch the clip:

CNN's Zucker: Fox News is "not a news organization," it's "state-run TV" that's "morphed into conspiracy TV." pic.twitter.com/PlhTOlHvgy

- Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) October 24, 2019

Zucker went on to praise former Fox News host Shepard Smith as a "great journalist" who should give him a call. "I understand he's not able to take any jobs for the foreseeable future," he said. "When he's available, he's somebody who is very talented and I'd be very open to talking to him."

Smith left Fox earlier this month amid reports of clashes with other high-profile personalities. He also faced criticism from President Donald Trump.

See: Shep Smith abruptly calls quits to 23-year run at Fox News

"Are there a handful of great journalists in that org? Sure," Zucker said. "Are there are one or two really good anchors at that organization? Sure. But that doesn't make it a news organization. That doesn't make it a journalism endeavor."

In One Chart: After checking out this chart of media bias, we might have to agree to disagree

It's not only the CNN chief assuming an attacking posture, of course. Hannity, for example, often refers to CNN as "fake news" and diagnoses it as suffering from TDS ("Trump Derangement Syndrome") and once called Stelter "a little pipsqueak," to list but a few of his barbs.

Fox News foreign correspondent Trey Yingst jumped into the fray with a lengthy thread pointing to the network's interviews with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani, Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg and Turkish President Recep Erdogan as examples of real journalism:

If you don't think Fox News is a "journalistic organization," I'd encourage you to take a look at the work my colleagues have done over the past year. Holding those in power accountable, risking their lives to get the story and reporting the facts. Here are just a few examples...

- Trey Yingst (@TreyYingst) October 24, 2019