I am shocked at how this president treats the press. I can appreciate how the relationship is adversarial, that is healthy, but there is no reason for him to hurl insults from the podium and say things like, “You are a rude, terrible person,” to Jim Acosta from CNN.
Good for Peter Alexander from NBC to step in and stand up for Jim’s character but that didn’t prevent him from getting some collateral damage of his own. “Well I’m not a big fan of yours either,” Trump said.
Later in the day, Acosta’s press credentials to the White House were taken away because of, “placing his hands on a young woman just trying to do her job as a White House intern.” A tweet from the White House Press Secretary makes it sound as if Acosta assaulted the woman in some way. But if you look at the video above, it does not seem to be that way at all. Acosta was just trying to hang on to the mic to finish his question and even said, “Pardon me, ma’am.” No assault or “karate chop.”
A couple of months ago, SmartNews hosted Dan Rather at an event at the annual Online News Association conference in Austin. Speaking to a room of fellow journalists, Mr. Rather warned of events such as the one above and stressed the importance of journalists sticking together through what he saw as a very dark time ahead. Here are a few clips from his speech.
I’m glad to see that CNN, NBC, Peter Alexander the White House Correspondents’ Association are standing behind Jim Acosta. Everyone who believes in a free press should do the same.
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