CNN’s eccentric Senior White House Correspondent Jim Acosta had been all over CNN and social media this week throwing a temper-tantrum over how the White House press briefings were being conducted. But during an appearance on The Situation Room, Wednesday evening, Acosta went full liberal activist as he decried the Trump administration and tried to smear a conservative panelist. “What we're witnessing right now is just this erosion of our freedoms in terms of covering the president of the United States,” he claimed while standing in front of the White House.
Acosta then proceeded to whine about how few press conferences President Trump had had press since taking office. “This issue of turning off the cameras in the briefing rooms,” he said, switching the topic to his favorite subject. “Wolf, I could hold up my phone tomorrow and live stream that press briefing with Sean Spicer or Sarah Sanders, whoever comes in there, and that is just where technology is right now.”
“So to think that we're going backwards and not having things on camera to me is just preposterous,” he chided. But Acosta was infamous for his on camera battels with both Press Secretary Sean Spicer and President Trump.
The CNN reporter doesn’t seem to have a problem with cameras not being allowed in the Supreme Court, the only branch of government without them. It may actually surprise CNN’s wannabe Braveheart that the highest court in the land doesn’t allow cameras to curb people like him. The premise was that a lack of cameras stems the potential theatrics that lawyers and justices would put on to get noticed.
Matt Schlapp, Chairman of the American Conservative Union, noted how out of control the on camera press briefings had gotten before they were limited. “I don’t think it’s helping politics in America to have these daily briefings. I actually think they’ve been a bit of a side show,” he said as he called Acosta out on his hyperbole:
And I think a lot of us look at them and say what are the American people learning? What really is the press learning? Jim, I can understand you want as much access as you can get, but your freedoms are not being denied when a White House determines the method by which they want to brief the press. That is their first amendment right.
“But you have to accept the fact that in poll after poll after poll the American people believe that major news organizations are biased to the left,” Schlapp noted as he explained how the press should really study why the public distrusts them. “You're suffering credibility because they feel like you have it against this President and against conservatives.”
That real news didn’t sit well with Acosta who flew off the handle, and asked: “Isn’t part of the reason why those numbers are being driven down is that the President is driving them down?” But Acosta’s accusation was divorced from reality. According to a Gallup tracking poll that shows data as far back as 1985, trust in newspapers has never broken 40 percent and had been on a steady downward trend since 2001. In layman’s terms, that’s long before Trump was president.
The ranting CNN correspondent then targeted Schlapp with an underhanded smear when he asked: “When he tells half the country that we're enemies of the people, how can you stand by that?! Why have you, as a Republican leader in this country, shouted from the mountain tops that this is wrong?!”
But the confrontation was expertly defused by Schlapp when he explained that “I don’t. I don’t stand by it. Jim, I don’t. You’re not my enemy … I think you’re a good man. I think you’re trying to do your job.”
Jim ‘Braveheart’ Acosta’s self-righteous indignation proves that he’s more interested in slinging inflammatory assertions and making a scene than actually being a reporter.
Transcript below:
CNN
The Situation Room
June 28, 2017
5:47:40 PM Eastern
(…)
MATT SCHLAPP: Look, I'm not trying to indict every reporter. I have a lot of friends that work for CNN who are on this show right now as well. But what I am trying to say is we all have to acknowledge that the Chiron on the screen says “Trump war with the press.” A lot of conservatives and Republicans believe that the national media has been at war with their values for decades. And when we have had to watch story after story after story about this investigation, about things that actually weren't that accurate about the Russia investigation, the fact that they don’t think Trump is a legitimate president, the fact that they are looking for every way to drive negative coverage.
You look at that Harvard study, Wolf, and it's hard for you to-- Put yourself in a conservative's shoes. When you look at the coverage, the overwhelming majority of coverage is anti-Trump. He deserves some of that coverage. They’ve made mistakes. I think they have to own up to those mistakes. But after a while the American people want to go to a place on the dial were they can simply get the straight facts without all this coloring, without all this opinion, without this shading. I think the American people deserve that.
WOLF BLITZER: Let me ask Jim Acosta to respond. Go ahead, Jim.
JIM ACOSTA: Well Wolf, I think that-- and I asked this question of the President when he was running to win the White House: Can you withstand the scrutiny that comes with being president of the United States? He didn't like that question. He snapped at me during that news conference. It was May of last year. And, you know, I think that there are moments when this President is just really sensitive to criticism and he lashes out in this fashion.
I think Matt is right to some extent, that yes, the coverage can get a little too negative sometimes, and that happens during the Obama administration. That happens during other administrations. Coverage of the president is tough, but that's the territory we're in right now. But I think to paint everybody with a broad brush is just not the right thing.
And Wolf, what we're witnessing right now is just this erosion of our freedoms in terms of covering the president of the United States. The president has only held one full news conference since the beginning of his administration, and that was in February. That's way behind the average of other presidents in modern times. This issue of turning off the cameras in the briefing rooms. Wolf, I could hold up my phone tomorrow and livestream that press briefing with Sean Spicer or Sarah Sanders, whoever comes in there, and that is just where technology is right now. So to think that we're going backwards and not having things on camera to me is just preposterous.
SCHLAPP: Can I respond? Look, I think the bipartisan letter from Ari Fleischer and Mike McCurry captures the moment. I don’t think it’s helping politics in America to have these daily briefings. I actually think they’ve been a bit of a side show. And I think a lot of us look at them and say what are the American people learning? What really is the press learning? Jim, I can understand you want as much access as you can get, but your freedoms are not being denied when a White House determines the method by which they want to brief the press. That is their first amendment right.
ACOSTA: They're our cameras and we should be able to turn them on and the White House is saying we can't turn them on.
(…)
5:54:36 PM Eastern
SCHLAPP: But you have to accept the fact that in poll after poll after poll the American people believe that major news organizations are biased to the left. And I think you would do the American people a lot of good if you look at not just Trump's polls, but your own poll numbers. You're suffering credibility because they feel like you have it against this President and against conservatives. And we should all stop that.
ACOSTA: Isn’t part of the reason why those numbers are being driven down is that the President is driving them down?
SCHLAPP: No Jim! You have to own it yourself!
ACOSTA: When he tells half the country that we're enemies of the people, how can you stand by that? Why have you, as a Republican leader in this country, shouted from the mountain tops that this is wrong?
SCHLAPP: I don’t. I don’t stand by it. Jim, I don’t. You’re not my enemy. This is why it doesn’t work, because we’re shouting at each other. I think you’re a good man. I think you’re trying to do your job.
(…)
