OPINION - EDITORIAL

Stand-up guy

He’s Jim Acosta and you’re not

Yeah, let's never forget. We're the real story. Not them.

a sarcastic Aaron Altman,

in Broadcast News

In 1987, William Hurt, Albert Brooks and Holly Hunter starred in a gem of a movie about the television news business. How far into the story should a reporter put himself? How much grandstanding is too much? How much flash can you get away with; how much substance is needed?

Our cousins in the broadcast news business are still trying to figure it out.

Word came down Friday morning that a reporter for CNN, Jim Acosta, would return to his post at the White House, after all the president's men and women suspended his press pass. A judge ruled in the matter. CNN's lawsuit presumably will go on, accusing the president of violating Mr. Acosta's First and Fifth Amendment rights.

(The ruling is a temporary win, because the judge didn't rule on the case itself. He just gave CNN a temporary restraining order, and Jim Acosta took his place among the pack again.)

The whole thing started last week when Jim Acosta tried to out-Trump Donald Trump at a presidential press conference. From what we gather, when Jim Acosta stood up and took the mic for his comments, he didn't even have a question for the president. He said something about the caravan of migrants from Central America, and started with, "I challenge you . . . ."

I challenge you? Yes, let's never forget, Jim Acosta is the real story.

It was like ringing the dinner bell for President Trump, who loves to fight with the media:

"Honestly, I think you should let me run the country, you run CNN." Then the president tried to call on another reporter, but Jim Acosta kept interrupting, shouting and going back and forth with the president. He wouldn't even give up the mic when a young intern tried to take it from him.

The White House used the brief physical encounter with the intern to suspend Jim Acosta's press pass. If the folks running CNN had any shame, they would have done that first.

Clearly, the president and his people have the authority to hand out press credentials to selected folks who cover the White House from the papers, radio, television and the Internet. The room for briefings can only handle so many people. And clearly the president gets to choose who he calls on for questions--unless CNN decides to ask a court to force this president to call on its reporters--and maybe we shouldn't put it past them.

Given how Jim Acosta likes to grandstand, he might be aiming for the drama of being escorted out of the room one day. Here's hoping that doesn't happen. For that would boost Jim Acosta's profile even more and lower the reputation of the media. Again.

For those of us in the print business, it seems unfair when one broadcast reporter tends not to yield to other reporters on those rare occasions when a president holds a news conference. There are other matters to discuss, no matter how anxious a TV star is to challenge the president. And Jim Acosta's actions are also unfair to the other broadcast reporters in the room who are trying to be fair and objective, since Mr. Acosta's actions erode the public's confidence in their profession as a whole.

Maybe the best way to handle Jim Acosta the next time he decides to "be the story" is to turn off his mic. And have another one ready to go for the next reporter, maybe even somebody not in the front row. A rumpled-shirt type with years of experience--a writer, perhaps--with an actual question would be nice.

Now then, as to that doctored video of Jim Acosta supposedly manhandling the intern:

Reports say that the White House retweeted a video of the incident, but its version had been sped up, or doctored, to make Jim Acosta look bad. We've gone back and forth on the two videos on the Web, and we really can't tell much of a difference. Can you?

The term "tempest in a teapot" comes to mind. Also something about a mountain and a molehill.

Editorial on 11/19/2018

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