Poor Jim Acosta. Poor, sweet, innocent Jim Acosta.
The embattled White House correspondent for CNN, who recently shed crocodile tears on camera over his shabby treatment at the hands of a new administration, probably thought he had made a valid point until President Trump’s son stepped in and promptly put him in his place.
Last week, Acosta grumbled about the president’s calling on only “friendly” news outlets at a joint news conference with President Andrzej Duda in Poland, accusing Trump of holding a “fake news conference.”
Will this presidential election be the most important in American history?
Trump finally held a news conference overseas. But he took a question from a friendly reporter and then attacked CNN as "fake news."
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) July 6, 2017
Isn't it a "fake news conference" to take a question from a reporter who is essentially an ally of the White House? https://t.co/vD7DgAZXIv
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) July 6, 2017
One can imagine the reporter cynically snickering at his keyboard, believing he had exposed the president’s bias.
Then the president’s son came along and burst Acosta’s bubble by reminding him that a president he had adored had done precisely the same thing.
So by that logic, was every news conference for the last 8 years #fakenews Jim? https://t.co/dui9XgmXgx
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) July 6, 2017
Ex-Bush White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer also reminded Acosta that Barack Obama — who took shots at Fox News Channel that every bit as undignified as Trump’s volleys at CNN — was guilty of the same infraction:
Jim – care to guess how many questions I took from reporters who went on to join the Obama WH?? https://t.co/q57Pea4L7S
— Ari Fleischer (@AriFleischer) July 6, 2017
According to a March 2015 report from the Media Research Center, Obama was so friendly to pro-administration journalists that 30 media members ended up working for him.
During his tenure in the White House, Acosta and other liberal media members were perfectly fine with the president calling on news outlets that favored his agenda, while ignoring the ones that might ask him the truly tough questions, which, when you get down to it, is the press’s job.
Sen. [score]Dick Durbin[/score] went so far as to praise Obama’s snub of Fox News in 2009, saying it “is the only way to delegitimize them as political propaganda.” A Democratic aide added, “The [Obama] White House is doing what they’re doing because they have major concerns about Fox’s coverage.”
Cross-posted at the Mental Recession