When CNN’s Jim Acosta doesn’t get his way in the White House, he goes on a temper tantrum about conservative media. In February, when President Trump hosted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House, he only called on the Christian Broadcasting Network and Townhall’s own Katie Pavlich. It marked the third presser in a row that the White House only took questions from conservative press.
Cue the meltdown from the mainstream media. “The fix is in,” Acosta said on his network following the presser, seemingly peeved that he and other mainstream outlets have not gotten the red carpet treatment they were used to during the Obama administration.
It was déjà vu Tuesday at the White House when Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders gave the first question to Breitbart reporter Charlie Spiering and proceeded to chide the media for relying on anonymous sources in their reporting. She showed particular dismay for a recently retracted CNN story that suggested a Trump aide was under investigation for his ties to a Russian businessman.
Acosta wasn’t a fan of Sanders’ tone, and tweeted the following after the briefing.
Does this feel like America? Where the White House takes q's from conservatives, then openly trashes the news media in the briefing room.
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) June 27, 2017
The CNN reporter also fumed that Sanders did not answer a question about the Senate’s revisions to the GOP-led health care bill.
“[S]he just didn’t answer the question,” he said.
Acosta has every right to be angry that the White House is not answering questions and he should hold them accountable. But, why target conservative reporters? They have the same credentials and the same right to be there as he does.
Yes, the Trump White House has gotten the occasional softball from the conservative press corps. But, more often than not, conservative outlets like Townhall have asked intelligent, relevant questions. At February’s presser with Netanyahu, Katie asked about the Israeli-Palestinian settlement feud and the Iranian nuclear deal - hardly easy questions to answer.
If Acosta does want to talk about softballs, Obama fielded plenty of those.
The tension between CNN and the White House increased yet again when the latter announced they'd be banning live cameras from the press room. Acosta is now fuming that the Trump administration is "eroding the traditions" of White House press coverage.
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