CNN reporter Jim Acosta has garnered approval from some quarters for standing up to the Trump administration for their hostility towards the press. But he also drew some criticism from sympathetic observers who think he has gone too far in becoming the story himself. Todd S. Purdum, The Atlantic, August 7, 2018, thinks Acosta’s confrontation is counterproductive an instance of that when Acosta asked Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders if she viewed the press as the people’s enemy. Purdum says such actions may just bolster Trump’s bromide that the press is “hostile, combative, and even unfair….”
Acosta also said recently that he felt threatened by the crowd in a Tampa, Florida rally for Trump, prompting one commentator to suggest that reporters stop attending the rallies. Another observer suggests that the battle over treatment of the press allows Trump to cement his standing with his base while the press can play the martyr and pretend “to be fighting to save the country, when in reality they care far more about their own celebrity and job security, which fighting with Trump enhances.” (Hot Air, August 3, 2018, by Allahpundit aka Josh Barro)
In the meantime an Ipsos poll shows that Trump is getting his anti-press message across with 43 percent of Republicans in favor of granting the president the power to shut down news outlets engaging in “bad behavior.” (The Daily Beast, August 7, 2018, by Sam Stein)
For recent FAC coverage of the issue, click here and here.