I can already tell this story is going to be easy to write about because it infuriates me. CNN and other news organizations have always been a target of "fake news" accusations from Donald Trump since he started his campaign for president. But on November 7th, 2018 Trump held a press conference at the white house the day after the midterm elections, and his behavior went directly against the first amendment to the constitution. Trump had a couple hostile interactions with other journalists, but his most controversial exchange was with Jim Acosta. Jim Acosta is one of the main political journalists for CNN, he was sitting front row of the press conference, and Trump chose him to ask a question. Acosta started to ask his first question and before he could even finish asking it, Trump leaned into the mic and said "here we go." Acosta first brought up an event about migrants traveling from Central America towards the southern border and asked why Trump had characterized it as an invasion. Trump only responded that they had a difference in opinion and he considered them invaders, even though they were hundreds of miles away and were seeking legal entry to the US. Acosta tries challenging Trump and Trump makes a comment about how Acosta should let him run the country and he run CNN. Acosta tries to ask another question and Trump just cuts him off saying that its enough, there is a back and forth until a white house intern comes up to Acosta and tries to grab the microphone from him but he holds onto it. There is a couple more exchanges and Acosta tries to ask more but finally lets go of the mic. Trump gives the mic to a different journalist who starts to ask a question but then Trump looks back to Acosta and says, "I tell you what, CNN should be ashamed of itself, having you work for them. You are a rude terrible person and you shouldn't be working for CNN." All of this dialogue is cited from "White House pulls CNN reporter Jim Acosta's pass after contentious news conference" published on November 7, 2018 on CNN Business by writer Brian Stelter. Again, the other reporter starts to ask his question and Trump turns back to insult Acosta for a second time. Once Trump looks at the other reporter, the reporter tries to defend Acosta from the insults and Trump says, "Well I'm not a big fan of yours either, to be honest." There is even more dialogue than this, more comments from Trump and more statements that Acosta tries to say but this is the gist.
At 7 p.m. the same day, Acosta comes back to the white house for a live shot on "Anderson Cooper 360" and he is stopped by security. The white house had suspended Acostas press pass until further notice. The full statement from Sarah Sanders states, in short, that President Trump believes in a free press and welcomes tough questions, but we will not tolerate a reporter placing his hands on a white house intern just trying to do her job. The statement also says that Acosta was being disrespectful for not letting his colleagues also ask questions and "President Trump has given the press more access than any president in history." One can watch the full interaction and see that Acosta did not put his hands on the white house intern in the video here. After CNN learns this they are in full support of Acosta, saying that Sarah Sanders is a liar and "This unprecedented decision is a threat to our democracy and the country deserves better." Even the White House Correspondent Association (WHCA) called the retraction of Acostas pass "unacceptable."
It was really hard personally for me to do research on this situation. I know that I have never agreed with anything Trump has done but this is going against what the US constitution states and as the President of the United States, I feel he has disgraced our country. It would be different if Acosta had been disrespecting Trump or someone else or causing harm but he was just asking questions that Trump considered difficult. Freedom of the press is how we as people are able to keep any president in check. Freedom of the press is one of the many ways we have freedom, freedom to criticize our president, unlike many countries around the world. In the article, "CNN journalist Jim Acosta banned from White House after Trump calls him 'rude, terrible person'" published on November 7, 2018 by NBC News, Jason Abbruzzese and Dennis Romero write that Acosta said to Anderson Cooper, "I never thought in this country that I wouldn't be able to go cover the president of the United States simply because I was trying to ask a question." This situation directly conflicts with the first amendment and as our President, Trump not abiding by that is disgusting. Matthew Yglesias wrote an article titled, "Jim Acosta vs. the Trump White House, explained" published by Vox on November 19, 2018 in which he explains that after that press conference and Acostas pass getting suspended, CNN sued the White House and Acostas got his pass back. But before he got it back, to back up her statement, Sarah Sanders tweeted a doctored video from Infowars that made it look like Acosta laid his hands on the White House intern. Of course when CNN sued the White House their reasoning was that Sarah Sanders is blatantly lying and Acostas pass should be restored. The network stood up and too this day still stand up for American journalism and freedom of the press. CNN is one of the news outlets Trump considers "fake news" but they are ranked more reliable a source on the Ad Fontes Media bias chart than Trumps favorite, Fox News.
At 7 p.m. the same day, Acosta comes back to the white house for a live shot on "Anderson Cooper 360" and he is stopped by security. The white house had suspended Acostas press pass until further notice. The full statement from Sarah Sanders states, in short, that President Trump believes in a free press and welcomes tough questions, but we will not tolerate a reporter placing his hands on a white house intern just trying to do her job. The statement also says that Acosta was being disrespectful for not letting his colleagues also ask questions and "President Trump has given the press more access than any president in history." One can watch the full interaction and see that Acosta did not put his hands on the white house intern in the video here. After CNN learns this they are in full support of Acosta, saying that Sarah Sanders is a liar and "This unprecedented decision is a threat to our democracy and the country deserves better." Even the White House Correspondent Association (WHCA) called the retraction of Acostas pass "unacceptable."
It was really hard personally for me to do research on this situation. I know that I have never agreed with anything Trump has done but this is going against what the US constitution states and as the President of the United States, I feel he has disgraced our country. It would be different if Acosta had been disrespecting Trump or someone else or causing harm but he was just asking questions that Trump considered difficult. Freedom of the press is how we as people are able to keep any president in check. Freedom of the press is one of the many ways we have freedom, freedom to criticize our president, unlike many countries around the world. In the article, "CNN journalist Jim Acosta banned from White House after Trump calls him 'rude, terrible person'" published on November 7, 2018 by NBC News, Jason Abbruzzese and Dennis Romero write that Acosta said to Anderson Cooper, "I never thought in this country that I wouldn't be able to go cover the president of the United States simply because I was trying to ask a question." This situation directly conflicts with the first amendment and as our President, Trump not abiding by that is disgusting. Matthew Yglesias wrote an article titled, "Jim Acosta vs. the Trump White House, explained" published by Vox on November 19, 2018 in which he explains that after that press conference and Acostas pass getting suspended, CNN sued the White House and Acostas got his pass back. But before he got it back, to back up her statement, Sarah Sanders tweeted a doctored video from Infowars that made it look like Acosta laid his hands on the White House intern. Of course when CNN sued the White House their reasoning was that Sarah Sanders is blatantly lying and Acostas pass should be restored. The network stood up and too this day still stand up for American journalism and freedom of the press. CNN is one of the news outlets Trump considers "fake news" but they are ranked more reliable a source on the Ad Fontes Media bias chart than Trumps favorite, Fox News.
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