Former CNN Producer Scorches 'Embarrassment' Acosta After Outburst
Jim Acosta of CNN, whose shouted and rude questions have been a fixture of media events at the White House throughout the Trump presidency, is “an embarrassment,” a former CNN producer said last week.
Acosta’s latest outburst came at the White House on Friday, as President Donald Trump was commenting on the attack against an Annapolis, Maryland, newspaper that left five people dead.
Trump called the shooting at The Capital Gazette “horrific” and offered his condolences to the families of all involved, The Hill reported.
“This attack shocked the conscience of our nation and filled our hearts with grief,” Trump said. “Journalists, like all Americans, should be free from the fear of being violently attacked while doing their job.”
Acosta, who was in the back of the media pack, had a different line of questioning in mind.
“Mr. President, will you stop calling us the enemy of the people, sir? Will you stop calling the press the enemy of the people, sir? Will you stop calling the press the enemy of the people, sir?” Acosta called out as Trump was talking. Video of the event shows someone nearby trying to hush Acosta, The Daily Caller reported.
"Mr. President, will you stop calling the press the enemy of the people," CNN Journalist Jim Acosta shouted at the end of Trump's speech pic.twitter.com/FqWT5afwUV
— POLITICO (@politico) June 29, 2018
That was too much for former CNN Senior Digital Producer Steve Krakauer, who tweeted his assessment of Acosta’s behavior.
“Truly an embarrassment, on multiple levels. Jim Acosta’s self-serving antics give all good journalists a bad name,” he wrote.
On a day journalists could honor the memory of fellow reporters tragically killed due to a deranged person with a vendetta going back years, Acosta tries to shift the blame to Trump, thus validating many Americans’ feelings about the Acela Media (that existed long before Trump).
— Steve Krakauer (@SteveKrak) June 29, 2018
“On a day journalists could honor the memory of fellow reporters tragically killed due to a deranged person with a vendetta going back years, Acosta tries to shift the blame to Trump, thus validating many Americans’ feelings about the Acela Media (that existed long before Trump),” Krakauer added.
"Watch as Acosta turns around to look at his cameraman and appears to ask if they got the shot. Then the camera lights are shut off, which again reveals just how staged and artificial all of this is." https://t.co/IvSnqVbd7f
— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) June 30, 2018
Some in the media used the shooting as an excuse to attack Trump.
“This is what happens when @realDonaldTrump calls journalists the enemy of the people. Blood is on your hands, Mr. President. Save your thoughts and prayers for your empty soul,” Reuters editor Rob Cox wrote in a tweet he later deleted after it was learned that gunman Jarrod Ramos had a grievance with the newspaper that dated back to 2012, Fox News reported.
Trump — who has battled negative media coverage throughout his presidency — later offered his thoughts on the media, according to a White House pool report.
“Obviously, the press has treated me very badly, in the meantime I’m president, so, I guess they didn’t treat me badly enough…I have a lot of respect for the media, tremendous respect. Some of the greatest people I know are reporters and people in the media,” Trump said. “But also you have, like anything else, people that are bad.”
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