Making more headlines with banned White House reporter Jim Acosta, CNN continued to grandstand over its victory last week when D.C. District Court Judge Timothy Kelly issued a temporary restraining order [TRO] Nov. 16 on the White House ban. Kelly told the White House they needed written policies and procedure regarding appropriate decorum at press conferences, if they wished to yank the credentials of misbehaving reporters. When Acosta got into his dust-up with President Donald Trump Nov. 7, the issue had nothing to due with the First Amendment, only dealing with an overly aggressive reporter who lost control of himself. While House officials served notice today that Acosta’s hard credential had been reinstated but only if he follows the written rules of conduct. Acosta showed no regard for his colleagues while he stole the show with Trump.
CNN hammered home to Judge Kelly the First Amendment violation, which Kelly essentially ignored, saying it was a 5th or 14th amendment issue related to due process. Kelly thought revoking Acosta’s press pass didn’t afford the CNN reporter due process, saying nothing about Free Speech. Getting Acosta’s press pass back in no way guarantees that either White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee or Trump will call on Acosta again. “Today the @WhiteHouse fully restored @Acosta’s press pass. As a result, our lawsuit is no longer necessary. We look forward to continuing to cover the White House,” tweeted CNN. CNN never apologized for Acosta’s behavior that boiled over Nov. 7, but had brewed for months. “Yielding the floor includes . . . physically surrendering the microphone to White House staff,” White House officials wrote Acosta in a warning.
White House officials put all reporters on notice that failing to follow the rules “may result in suspension or revocation of the journalist’s hard pass,” telling Acosta that he can’t make a scene at White House press conferences. Judge Kelly gave the White House a valuable tip about “informed consent” to attend press conferences, requiring all reporters to abide by the same rules. When White House officials yanked Acosta’s hard pass Nov. 7, they didn’t have written rules handed out to all reporters. With the new written rules, it’s going to be more difficult for CNN to argue Free Speech when it has to do with comportment, not the First Amendment. Trump complained that Acosta monopolized the press conference, preventing other print and broadcast reporters from doing their jobs. Not one reporter should exhibit such selfishness to prevent colleagues from getting equal time.
Kelly helped the White House prevent another due process issue for reporters that violate policies and procedures regarding press conferences. Interviewing Trump yesterday on Fox News, Chris Wallace grilled Trump about his off-repeated rebuke, calling the press the “enemy of the people.” Trump clarified that he was only referring to the “fake press,” like CNN or MSNBC, for misquoting or misrepresenting news stories. Wallace insisted that it was wrong for Trump to lump all journalists in the label of “fake news.” Trump clarified, but Wallace refused to accept, that he only referred to fake broadcast and print media. Wallace told Trump he considers himself part of the same industry that Trump brands as “fake news.” Fake news has more to do with featuring stories that are opposed to Trump’s policies, regardless of external metrics showing positive results. Fake news doesn’t report on Trump’s positive developments in domestic or foreign policy.
CNN’s Jeff Zucker has morphed Ted Turner’s former cable news giant into one of the most biased stations on the airwaves. Though lagging behind Fox News, CNN makes its hay bashing Trump 24/7, giving rise to reporters like Acosta, Don Lemon, Anderson Cooper and Brooke Baldwin, whose broadcasts get much of their content from the Democratic National Committee. CNN’s retired reporters like Bernard Shaw and Peter Arnett can only cringe watching today’s biased reporting. Zucker calculates ratings and the bottom-line, could care less about fidelity to the First Amendment. CNN knows that Acosta’s problems stemmed from his egotistical and intemperate behavior, nothing to do with Free Speech. Acosta’s dust-up with Trump makes good headlines for CNN, continuing its narrative that Trump acts more like Russian President Vladimir Putin than a U.S. president.
Future run-ins with Acosta or other reporters will depend entirely on how Trump and Sanders handle disruptive behavior. With Zucker egging on Acosta to make more headlines, it’s only a matter of time before another incident takes place. White House officials said Acosta “violated the basic standards” governing presidential press conferences. New rules in place should satisfy Judge Kelly’s requirement to give due process to reporters that breach the rules. Trump irks the press because he’s the first U.S. president to call out their biased reporting as “fake news.” He’s taken on the media during his campaign and now as president, resulting in his low approval ratings, hovering under 45%. CNN leads the way for the broadcast and print industry that wants Trump out of office at the earliest time. Whether 74-year-old Special Counsel Robert Mueller gives them what they want is anyone’s guess.
