Jim Acosta, CNN’s senior White House correspondent, during the “Press and the Presidency” forum last Wednesday (April 12) at the Newseum:
“And the President, to some extent, has an unhealthy attitude towards the news media and I think I’m being diplomatic when I say this. I was out on the campaign trail time and again when he referred to the news media as the dishonest news media, the disgusting news media. He called us liars and crooks and thieves and I can’t think of all of the other names that he called us.
“There were chants of, you know, going after CNN that he would pause for and allow the crowd to continue those chants and, you know, I did ask him during that news conference where he did take my question, are you concerned that you are undermining American confidence in the news media? Because, at the end of the day, when he leaves office, we need Republicans to believe what’s being said in the mainstream news media, just as much as we need Democrats to and I think that the President has to understand that he is doing real damage to what we do. He’s doing real damage to the First Amendment in this country when he refers to the news media as the enemies of the people. Now, I know some of that is production, it’s the, you know, he’s from Fifth Avenue, so there is a little bit of Broadway there, I guess or something like that...”
“I was with Steve Bannon the other day where he referred to us as the opposition party once again. We’re not the opposition party. We are just trying to get at the truth and when you have a side of the news media that just insists time and again that, you know, that CNN is out to get the President or out to get certain people in this country, I think it just does a tremendous disservice to all Americans. I don’t think it is American to go after a segment of the news media.”
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