CNN’s Jim Acosta is a smart, insightful, and savvy journalist. But he should not be a beat reporter, at least not at the Trump White House. He has violated the two inviolable rules of journalism: He allows his bias to show, and he becomes part of the story he is assigned to cover.
At President Trump’s recent press conference in India, Acosta said this to the president, who accused his network of being dishonest: “I think our record on delivering the truth is a lot better than yours sometimes.”
No one can blame Acosta for defending his network’s integrity and the veracity of its reporting against an unprovoked and gratuitous attack from a habitually dishonest, press-hating president. But Acosta went far beyond that. It is simply not appropriate for a White House reporter to call the president a liar to his face at a press conference.
It’s not just rude — it’s also not what reporters should do. They should report — on what a president does, says, or thinks. That does not include causing a president to do or say anything one way or another. Like all reporters and citizens in this country, Acosta is entitled to his opinion. He is not entitled to let it color his reporting. Being a journalist here and being given access to public airwaves, especially now, carries with it a special responsibility to be as objective and unbiased as humanly possible. Asking politicians tough questions and calling them out for questionable actions or statements is good journalism. If reporters don’t hold politicians accountable, who will?
Speaking truth to power is a critical part of our democracy. But it is the role of citizens, not reporters.
Some defenders of Acosta have suggested that veteran ABC News White House reporter Sam Donaldson behaved similarly towards President Ronald Reagan. I served in the Reagan White House Press Office for all eight years of his presidency, and I can assure you Donaldson was never rude, disrespectful, or sought to one-up Reagan. Yes, he often shouted tough questions, but that’s what he was supposed to do, and that’s entirely different from what Acosta did recently.
On the one occasion when Donaldson went too far and likened first lady Nancy Reagan to “a smiling mamba,” he quickly realized he was out of line and wrote her a letter of apology. He was one of the most credible and trusted journalists in Washington because he knew what reporters should and should not do. He knew that columns and talk shows are where opinions belong — not in what should be a straightforward reporting of facts. He never allowed his views to color his reporting. He never abused his position as a White House reporter and maintained his credibility.
One has to go back more than more than four decades to find a time when a network reporter mouthed off to a president at a news conference. In 1974, CBS White House correspondent Dan Rather was called on to ask President Richard Nixon (in many ways, his nemesis) a question. Just after Rather identified himself, and before he could pose his inquiry, there were jeers and applause from the audience, prompting a smiling Nixon to ask: “Are you running for something?” to which Rather snarked, “No, sir, Mr. President. Are you?” Not quite the same as accusing the president of being a liar, but still not the right thing to do.
Acosta has every reason to dislike Trump. No doubt the feeling is mutual. Yet the fact remains that Acosta’s contempt for the president infects his reporting. And that’s a problem. Not just for CNN, but for the country as a whole.
It is impossible to overstate the importance of a free press to a democracy. An unintimidated free press is as essential to the life of a democracy as is oxygen to humans. As vigorously as we must guard against any forces that would threaten the constitutionally protected freedom of the press, so too, should reporters themselves — especially those on beats — strive to put their personal feelings aside and report facts. Ultimately, if reporters are viewed as nothing more than advocates of one side or the other’s political agenda, the appetite to defend their freedom will likely diminish.
CNN criticizes Fox News for allowing a pro-Trump bias to flavor its reporting. But if CNN becomes the anti-Fox and therefore the anti-Trump network, then it is no better than its right-wing rival. The management of CNN has a decision to make. It’s not complicated. They should ask themselves if anyone believes Acosta is genuinely objective anymore. The answer is obvious.
So give Acosta his own show where he can share his insights — just not one airing from the north lawn of the White House.
Mark Weinberg, a communications consultant and executive speechwriter, who served as special assistant to the president and assistant press secretary in Ronald Reagan’s White House and as director of public affairs in the former president’s office, is the author of the best-selling memoir Movie Nights with the Reagans.
