Fri
Jan 13 2017
10:28 am
Jim Acosta
By: Bbeanster

I'm pretty skeptical of TV folks. It probably goes back to the first time I staked out a spot at a news event and had a TV reporter wearing more makeup than a high school girl at her junior prom plant him/herself smack in front of me. I'm short, both in stature and in fuse, and I didn't appreciate that kind of treatment. And it's not like me to suffer in silence.

But I liked Jim Acosta. He was smart. He was funny. He was friendly and he was tough. I've been happy to see his success at CNN, where he has covered Donald Trump since the beginning of his presidential campaign.

As early as last summer, I noticed that Trump seemed to single Jim out for abuse, calling him "beautiful" in a tone that made it clear that this was no compliment, although I wondered if Trump, who frequently proclaims himself "very good looking," might have been jealous of Jim, who looks a bit like George Clooney.

Adversarial relationships between pubic figures and media are healthy. Tension between them is nothing new. But I've never seen anybody as abusive to the media who are obliged to cover him as Donald Trump. He cages them up in pens at his rallies and incites his crowds against them. He has repeatedly singled out individuals like Jim and Katie Tur, clearly inviting his followers to to attack them. And it hasn't gotten any better since the election. This is the way he intends to govern.

Anyhow, for what it's worth, I'm glad Jim Acosta's not backing down. We're going to need reporters with that kind of brain and backbone in this new era we're fixing to enter.

Topics:
bizgrrl's picture

Will there be any others to

Submitted by bizgrrl on Fri, 2017/01/13 - 10:56am.

Will there be any others to ask the hard questions of Trump like Acosta or will they take it easy on him as they did during the election cycle?

cafkia's picture

The beautiful thing is that

Submitted by cafkia on Sat, 2017/01/14 - 6:51pm.

The beautiful thing is that Trumplethinskin insulted the entire CNN and Buzzfeed organizations. Any journalists affiliated with either organization no longer has any reason whatsoever to suck up to him. Perhaps now we will see an upswing in honest, hardcore coverage.

Apparently the WaPo is considering getting off of the Trump train as well. If he just pisses off(on?) a couple more solid organizations things ought to get interesting.

bizgrrl's picture

That's a lot of makeup.

Submitted by bizgrrl on Fri, 2017/01/13 - 5:13pm.

That's a lot of makeup.

Mike Knapp's picture

He's training people with Acosta

Submitted by Mike Knapp on Sat, 2017/01/14 - 9:25am.

When it happens again after another narcissistic dismissal it would be a strong msg if every colleague simply kept deferring to the "Acosta'd" reporter's question as Trump moves on from reporter to reporter. Or just walk out the damn room en masse. Sadly unsure the 4th estate is going to be able to do anything. Regardless of HRC's emails there was a substantial amount of negative stories about Trump, didn't matter, doesn't matter. Underestimation is a bad move right now.

However there's reporting that suggests an emergent solidarity amongst journalists. See this from CNN's

By Brian Stelter & the CNNMoney Media team
Standing room only meeting of White House correspondents

The White House Correspondents' Association holds a town hall for members every year. Normally a few dozen reporters show up. This year: One hundred.

"I've never seen the room this packed. It was PACKED, which is heartening, you know," a longtime member told me after Thursday's meeting. WHCA president Jeff Mason confirmed the attendance figure, noting that the prior record was about 45 attendees. "People were very interested and attentive and engaged," Mason said in a phone interview Friday night. Another member, USA Today's Gregory Korte, said it was standing room only.

The association is best known for its annual WHCA dinner in the springtime. But "nerd prom" didn't even come up during the meeting, Korte told me. Mason seconded that: "I have joked to some people that normally the dinner would be at the top of my list of things to work on in January of a WHCA school year. But we have a lot of priorities right now." Communicating with the incoming administration. Preserving access. And "maintaining and increasing press corps unity." That's at the top of the list, Mason said...

Factchecker's picture

I hadn't made the link that

Submitted by Factchecker on Sat, 2017/01/14 - 9:16pm.

I hadn't made the link that Acosta used to be a reporter at WBIR. OK, then.

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