Washington – CNN White House correspondent Jim Acosta, whose network is a frequent target of President Donald Trump’s “fake news” barbs, called on him Monday to stop attacking on the media because he’s afraid someone will get hurt.
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The past week may have signaled a turning point in journalists fighting back against Trump’s attacks, with the White House Correspondents Association issuing a statement condemning him for praising a Montana congressman who body-slammed a reporter last year during a successful congressional campaign.
Acosta, Maggie Haberman and WHCA President Olivier Knox talked about the personal toll the words have taken during a panel Monday at CNN’s “Citizen” conference. Knox said the day after Trump referred to some news organizations as enemies of the people, his child came to him in tears and asked if he was going to prison.
The White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump has been advised that his words against the media have an impact, but “he doesn’t seem to care,” said Haberman, who covered Trump as a New York real estate baron and now in the White House. A.G. Sulzberger, publisher of The New York Times, also said that he was glad Trump broke an agreement to keep a conversation the two men had off the record because it revealed publicly that he had made the same point to the president.
“All he hears is the cheering of the crowd when he gets up and says it,” Haberman said.
Acosta wonders how serious Trump actually is in his criticism, and the extent to which “fake news” is just another line delivered by a man who made “you’re fired” a signature when he hosted “The Apprentice.”
What’s disturbing is the number of people at campaign rallies willing to join in — and add some choice epithets his way, Acosta said. It has normalized and sanitized a level of nastiness and cruelty that he hasn’t seen before.
The rhetoric “has to stop,” he said. “I’m afraid somebody is going to get hurt.”
Haberman warned not to overstate the issue; while disturbing, it doesn’t compare to the danger she felt after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. There’s no great answer other than for reporters to continue doing their jobs, she said. Haberman said she was taken aback when some fellow reporters were surprised that she continued wearing her press credentials while speaking to some attendees at a recent Trump rally in the South.
“People said they stopped wearing them,” she said.
It’s often difficult for news organizations used to competing with one another to agree on a strategy for fighting back against the attacks. That’s why it was notable when Knox on Friday issued a WHCA statement condemning Trump for praising Montana Rep. Greg Gianforte. Trump said anyone who can do a body-slam “is my kind of guy.” The correspondents association said it amounted to a celebration of a crime by someone sworn to uphold the nation’s laws.
“It seemed like the right thing to do,” Knox said.
“It was absolutely the right thing to do,” said CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer. “We applaud you.”
Haberman said she’s happy with Trump’s recent willingness to engage reporters more directly. She noted that Trump has skillfully kept control; instead of formal news conferences where reporters can think about questions in advance, he favors brief availabilities before stepping onto a helicopter — where television viewers can’t even hear the questions.
Acosta said it’s preferable to White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders’ briefings.
“I wouldn’t put ‘productive’ and a Sarah Sanders briefing in the same sentence,” he said.
The reporters also talked about the challenge of covering a president when so much time is spent on fact-checking false presidential statements and they got some advice from veteran Watergate sleuth Carl Bernstein. He said reporters must get at the stories behind the statements.
“We have to be more than Trump lie-catchers,” Bernstein said.
Most media reporting seems more like two or three facts and then the opinion of the reporter. this is the low state of ‘news’ today….
Stupid Jim , You CNN and your Fake News Outlets , just stop attacking the President what u have been doing from day 1 untill now and the President wont have to fight u back ,
Stop crying and accept that Donald J Trump won the Presidency
You dont have to agree his great work but DONT BE 100% NEGETIVE
He right, the media should stop with their attacks
the media, particularly cnn, know precisely how to instigate trouble with President Trump, one of the greatest presidents in history, by playing on his ego. when he falls for it, their ratings skyrocket, but the truth is that their news is exaggerated, biased and fraught with lies.
it’s been quiet for a few days, which means they need traffic and profit, so they are testing him with their puppet acosta.
note to the president- don’t fall for their gimmick. continue to MAGA one pride at a time
gd bless Trump!!!
Acosta is a journalist with an agenda. But his agenda is not the true agenda of media. Media should report. CNN does not. CNN has adopted the role as the loudest enemy of the President. While that is protected under the Constitution, it is also the freedom of the President to tell them what they are. A bunch of angry, sore losers who are consumed by hate, to the point of denying truth, logic, and morality. I always wonder how people stoop as low as Acosta and the rest of the MSM.
Trump may be a clown; but he speaks the truth when cLling CNN. and their ilk “fake news”. Perhaps the media likes are not as factually untrue as Trump’s; but the takeaway is equally pernicious if not more so.
maybe the media should stop attacking Trump cnn is the mouth peace of the democrat party they aren’t journalist they are partisan hacks who hate Trump
Whining Acosta. Have some basic decent respect to anyone holding the oval office. He somehow got there. Mayb in ur eyes hes a donse or worse but to half of America
hes not and we hold the office of presidency with a little respect . Wont hurt ya.
Mr Fake News himself wants a truce. Seems like he lost this round. If you can’t stand the heat Jimmy Boy time to leave the kitchen.
Lol. Jim, here’s a newsflash: there already has been violence, and it’s bee committed by YOUR side, you fake news phony lowlife.
“It has normalized and sanitized a level of nastiness and cruelty that he hasn’t seen before.”
Awwww Jimmy boy, you really didn’t see a level of nastiness and cruelty before Trump’s comment? Let’s see now, did you protest when comedian Kathy Griffin held up a bloody severed head of Trump? Were you upset with the Shakespeare in the Park play in Central Park where Trump was stabbed to death on the Senate floor in a nightly presentation? Does Democrat Maxine Waters calling for violence on the Trump administration bother your sensibilities? When GOP congressmen were shot at a baseball field in Alexandria, Va did you call for the violence to stop? And now that Hillary is on record saying, “You cannot be civil with a political party that wants to destroy what you stand for…….” And you have the gall to say “the rhetoric has to stop, someone is going to get hurt.” Your hypocrisy is beyond measure.