My local paper says in a big headline that CNN and Jim Acosta are suing the White House over Acosta's revoked press credentials. The article then goes on to say at the end that CNN says that it has made no decision on whether or not to sue. This is what passes for journalism at the Hearst papers in Connecticut: they print headlines that are contradicted by their own articles.
Let's forget for the moment the erroneous headline. Does Acosta have a case should he decide to sue? Is the White House barred from banning a reporter no matter what he does? This sounds like a question for which the CNN folks will try to find a sympathetic judge to rule in their favor. I could see the ruling go either way. After all, Acosta will argue that it is an issue of freedom of the press and the White House will argue that CNN still has full access but that Acosta's obvious misbehavior was so egregious that he personally had to be barred. And clearly the DC press is siding mostly with the White House here. So far, no other network has announced support for CNN and Acosta on this issue. They all saw Acosta's tantrum at the press conference.
My guess is that some sort of accommodation will be reached and Acosta will be allowed to return, but you never know these days. Maybe Acosta will decide to run for president as a Democrat. He might be a better choice than Avenatti.
Let's forget for the moment the erroneous headline. Does Acosta have a case should he decide to sue? Is the White House barred from banning a reporter no matter what he does? This sounds like a question for which the CNN folks will try to find a sympathetic judge to rule in their favor. I could see the ruling go either way. After all, Acosta will argue that it is an issue of freedom of the press and the White House will argue that CNN still has full access but that Acosta's obvious misbehavior was so egregious that he personally had to be barred. And clearly the DC press is siding mostly with the White House here. So far, no other network has announced support for CNN and Acosta on this issue. They all saw Acosta's tantrum at the press conference.
My guess is that some sort of accommodation will be reached and Acosta will be allowed to return, but you never know these days. Maybe Acosta will decide to run for president as a Democrat. He might be a better choice than Avenatti.
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