CNN anchor Alisyn Camerota confronted National Rifle Association spokeswoman Dana Loesch on Friday morning over her statement that the media "loves mass shootings," calling the charge "malicious."

"I don’t know anybody in the media who likes mass shootings, you’re wrong on every single level," Camerota said.

"We pray that there’s never another one. The idea of them being ratings gold ... guess what? They’re not ratings gold. Americans have reached saturation level. They’re so sick of it."



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The contentious interview comes one day after Loesch, in an appearance at the Conservative Political Action Conference, said that "many in legacy media love mass shootings."



In Friday's interview, Loesch doubled down in response to a question from Camerota, saying that many in the media like the high ratings that comes from coverage of mass shootings.

"Many in the media do because they like the ratings aspect of it, and it’s true because it’s wall-to-wall coverage," Loesch said.

Loesch also attacked CNN over its town hall event Wednesday night on guns, accusing the host of the event, where Loesch and Sen. Marco Rubio Marco Antonio RubioSunday shows preview: Justice Ginsburg dies, sparking partisan battle over vacancy before election Florida senators pushing to keep Daylight Savings Time during pandemic Hillicon Valley: DOJ indicts Chinese, Malaysian hackers accused of targeting over 100 organizations | GOP senators raise concerns over Oracle-TikTok deal | QAnon awareness jumps in new poll MORE (R-Fla.) were jeered and booed, of losing control.

"I want to say something really quickly. I think Jake Tapper did an admirable job," she said. "I think he ultimately lost control. I have a lot of respect for Jake. I think it was a tough spot he was in also, but I do think maybe perhaps the way the network was hosting this discussion, it didn’t seem that the network perhaps intended for it to be geared towards discussing solutions."



"I get it, emotions are high. It’s awful. Barely a week ago, but I really want to have that discussion as to what we can do to stop this in the future," she concluded.



Camerota responded that the reason CNN held the town hall was to allow students from the Florida high school where 17 people were killed in a shooting last week to ask direct questions to lawmakers.

She then said Loesch was guilty of being malicious.

The town hall was the most-watched program on cable news Wednesday night, drawing 2.9 million viewers.