CNN's Zucker Questioned Over Charlie Hebdo Decision

Christine Amanpour

CNN's Christiane Amanpour questioned network president Jeff Zucker in front of CNN's global staff on Wednesday over his decision not to air images of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad, sources at the network told Politico.

In a "town hall" simulcast to CNN bureaus worldwide, the chief international correspondent informed her boss that the Quran does not prohibit showing images of Muhammad and questioned the network's refusal to show the most recent Charlie Hebdo magazine cover on the grounds that it might offend Muslims.

On air, CNN has attributed the decision to a network policy "not to show potentially offensive images of the prophet."

According to Dylan Byers at Politico, Zucker's response to Amanpour was unmemorable, several sources said. "Basically he had no response," said one staffer.

Wednesday's townhall took place in front of a live audience of CNN staff in New York and was broadcast to bureaus around the world. Employees in every bureau were invited to submit questions directly or anonymously via email, as well as through prerecorded video. Cooper anchored questions from New York; Amanpour anchored from London; and Jake Tapper anchored from Washington. The event was produced much like a CNN broadcast, complete with chyrons across the bottom of the screen showing the most recent question that had been asked.