Reported by left wing HuffPost, CNN “Newsroom” 51-year-old host Jim Acosta confronted former Homeland Security Secretary Chris Wolf about the 2020 election. Acosta, once covered the White House for CNN before he was banned from the White House for rudely interrupting 76-year-old President Donald Trump to the point that even former CEO Jeff Zucker had to cancel Acosta’s credentials. So, with 50-year-old CEO Chris Licht taking over from Zucker’s sex scandal, he promised to turn a new leaf on CNN’s programming. Watching Acosta, it’s doubtful he can switch gears to more independent, less partisan reporting, after spending his formative years ripping Trump and his presidency at every opportunity. Whether Acosta can survive changes with CNN’s more journalistic format is anyone’s guess. It’s difficult to imagine CNN’s current lineup changing their stripes.
With 55-year-old Anderson Cooper, 56-year-old Don Lemon, 51-uear-old Dana Bash and Acosta running CNN’s news room, it’s doubtful Licht can succeed in returning CNN to a standardized, ethical journalism format, a far cry from the heavy dose of Democrat opinion expressed in daytime and evening programming. Lich gave 36-year-old Brian Stelter the ax, knowing that the weekend host couldn’t possibility fit into any new news format. Whether the current lineup can change their Democrat stripes is anyone’s guess. What Licht knows for sure is that CNN has lost massive audience share and advertising revenue from turning off the vast majority of news junkies. Lich may be kidding himself that the current lineup can return CNN to unbiased, nonpartisan broadcast journalism. Watching Jim Acosta go toe-to-toe with Chad Wolf confirms that he’s still looking for a fight with Republicans.
Acosta confronted Wolf on the issue of the 2020 election, asking the former Trump official whether the election was legitimate. Acosta asked Wolf whether Biden won the election “fair-and-square.” Wolf acknowledged that Biden was president but didn’t admit that the 2020 election was legitimate. Acosta hit Wolf with Democrat Party talking points that some 60 legal challenges in courts with judges appointed by Trump or other Republicans couldn’t find evidence of election fraud. Wolf told Acosta that the left and the right “do not have confidence in our election system,” prompting Acosta to go on the attack. “You are a former acting secretary of Homeland Security and you’re spreading doubt and fear,” Acosta said. “These are facts, Wolf told Acosta. “No, these are alternative facts,” Acosta told Wolf. Acosta’s aggressive style shows that he has no plans to change his journalistic style.
What chance does Licht have trying to reprogram CNN’s Democrat, partisan format to attract a wider share of the cable news audience. Acosta is a perfect example of how CNN’s hosts have been giving so much latitude to advance a Democrat agenda under Jeff Zucker that it’s inconceivable they can switch gears. Acosta earned his stripes going after Trump at the White House pressroom before he was ejected from the job. Acosta would be far better off letting his audience make their own minds up about whether or not Wolf tells the truth. Injecting his Democrat opinion only makes a bad situation worse for Acosta, seen advancing a Democrat political agenda. If Wolf doesn’t think the election was legitimate, Acosta should not have such a strong ax to grind. Letting Wolf give his views is the best way from any audience to figure out the truth, not have Acosta advocate for Democrats.
What does Acosta have to say about universal mail-in ballots where every registered voter got a ballot to return by mail? Republicans think that the very process of sending universal mail-in ballots to a larger Democrat registration pool gave Democrats an election edge in 2020. Elections officials used the Covd-19 global pandemic as reason to use universal mail-in ballots. But it’s certainly possible that universal mail-in ballots made legitimizing the election process more difficult. There’s nothing strange about Trump losing on the issues driving the 2020 ballot. Certainly the Covid-19 pandemic created worry in voters, something used to justify universal mail-in ballots. How that affected the outcome of the election is anyone’s guess? More people certainly voted than ever before, giving a registration advantage to Democrats. Acosta could have invited that discussion but didn’t.
CNN, with hosts like Acosta, have a real problem revamping their news format, so accustomed under Zucker to give Democrat Party opinions. But Acosta and other CNN hosts need to take into account the failed ratings and loss of advertising revenue, now putting CNN in last place compared to MSNBC and Fox. You’d think that hosts like Acosta would want to appeal to a broader audience, rather that spewing Democrat Party talking points on news shows. Instead of CNN hosts obsessed with Trump, they should focus on the news of the day, not fixate on past political enemies. Whether CNN’s current lineup can switch gears, go to more ethical broadcast journalism, is anyone’s guess. It’s highly doubtful spending years bashing Trump and the GOP, the current hosts can change course. Licht has a big task ahead slowly replacing hosts that can’t fit into the new format.
About the Author.
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
