On Media Blog Archives Select Date… December, 2015 November, 2015 October, 2015 September, 2015 August, 2015 July, 2015 June, 2015 May, 2015 April, 2015 March, 2015 February, 2015 January, 2015

Fox says Ricks apologized, Ricks disputes

Fox News has hit back at author Tom Ricks for blasting the network during an on-air interview as “operating as a wing of the Republican Party” and accusing it of hyping the Benghazi attack, saying he “apologized in our offices afterward but doesn’t have the strength of character to do that publicly.”

Michael Clemente, Fox’s executive vice president of news, told The Hollywood Reporter on Monday Ricks was only seeking publicity with his guest appearance. Ricks, he said, ignored the interview question, "When you have four people dead, including the first U.N. ambassador in more than 30 years, how do you call that hype?", in order to promote his new book — but later apologized.

“When Mr. Ricks ignored the anchor’s question, it became clear that his goal was to bring attention to himself -- and his book," Clemente told THR in an e-mail. "He apologized in our offices afterward but doesn’t have the strength of character to do that publicly."

Ricks, however, told The Hollywood Reporter he never apologized.

(UPDATE: Ricks tells POLITICO Clemente is "making it up" that he apologized.)

"Please ask Mr. Clemente what the words of my supposed apology were. I'd be interested to know," he wrote in an e-mail to THR. "Frankly, I don't remember any such apology."

Asked about the discrepancy, Clemente referred POLITICO to Fox News communications representative Dana Klinghoffer, who has yet to respond. Ricks also has yet to respond to a request for additional comment.

Earlier on Monday, Ricks said he told a Fox News producer before he went on air he felt the network had "hyped" the Benghazi story and “it should have been no surprise when I said it.”

During Monday’s interview, Ricks — who writes a blog for Foreign Policy magazine and is a best-selling author of books such as “Fiasco” and “The Generals” — told Fox News’s Jon Scott “that Benghazi generally was hyped, by this network especially.” When Scott pushed back, Ricks asked the anchor if he knew how many security contractors died in Iraq. When Scott replied he did not, Ricks said, “no, 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 say this focus on what was essentially a small fire-fight, I think, number one, I’ve covered a lot of fire-fights, it is impossible to figure out what happens in them sometimes,” Ricks said Monday on Fox News. “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.”