SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
U.S. President Donald Trump gets into an exchange with CNN reporter Jim Acosta during a news conference a day after the midterm elections on November 7, 2018 in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC. Republicans kept the Senate majority but lost control of the House to the Democrats. (Photo: Al Drago - Pool/Getty Images)
"Clear Attack on the First Amendment": Authoritarian Trump Denounced for Stripping Press Credentials From CNN's Jim Acosta
"This unprecedented decision is a threat to our democracy and the country deserves better," said the cable news outlet in a statement. "Jim Acosta has our full support."
Nov 06, 2018
Just hours after President Donald Trump called CNN political reporter Jim Acosta a "rude, terrible person" during a post-midterm press conference, the White House suspended the journalist's credentials on Wednesday night - a move that prompted outrage from the cable network and press freedom advocates called a "clear attack on the First Amendment."
As CNN reports:
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders announced in a statement that Acosta would be stripped of what's known as a "hard pass," which gives him access to the White House grounds.
Around the same time, Acosta was stopped at the White House's Pennsylvania Avenue gate where reporters usually enter. He was heading back to the White House for a live shot on "Anderson Cooper 360."
The White House Corespondents Association, which advocates on behalf of the press corps, issued the following statement in response:
In a statement by the network, CNN said: "This unprecedented decision is a threat to our democracy and the country deserves better. Jim Acosta has our full support."
When Sanders later tweeted a statement saying Trump "believes in a free press and expects and welcomes tough questions of him and his Administration" and that the suspension was due to the reporter's "putting his hands on" an White House press intern, Acosta simply responded: "This is a lie."
Meanwhile, critics of the move--including fellow journalists--unleashed on the White House online:
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Just hours after President Donald Trump called CNN political reporter Jim Acosta a "rude, terrible person" during a post-midterm press conference, the White House suspended the journalist's credentials on Wednesday night - a move that prompted outrage from the cable network and press freedom advocates called a "clear attack on the First Amendment."
As CNN reports:
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders announced in a statement that Acosta would be stripped of what's known as a "hard pass," which gives him access to the White House grounds.
Around the same time, Acosta was stopped at the White House's Pennsylvania Avenue gate where reporters usually enter. He was heading back to the White House for a live shot on "Anderson Cooper 360."
The White House Corespondents Association, which advocates on behalf of the press corps, issued the following statement in response:
In a statement by the network, CNN said: "This unprecedented decision is a threat to our democracy and the country deserves better. Jim Acosta has our full support."
When Sanders later tweeted a statement saying Trump "believes in a free press and expects and welcomes tough questions of him and his Administration" and that the suspension was due to the reporter's "putting his hands on" an White House press intern, Acosta simply responded: "This is a lie."
Meanwhile, critics of the move--including fellow journalists--unleashed on the White House online:
Just hours after President Donald Trump called CNN political reporter Jim Acosta a "rude, terrible person" during a post-midterm press conference, the White House suspended the journalist's credentials on Wednesday night - a move that prompted outrage from the cable network and press freedom advocates called a "clear attack on the First Amendment."
As CNN reports:
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders announced in a statement that Acosta would be stripped of what's known as a "hard pass," which gives him access to the White House grounds.
Around the same time, Acosta was stopped at the White House's Pennsylvania Avenue gate where reporters usually enter. He was heading back to the White House for a live shot on "Anderson Cooper 360."
The White House Corespondents Association, which advocates on behalf of the press corps, issued the following statement in response:
In a statement by the network, CNN said: "This unprecedented decision is a threat to our democracy and the country deserves better. Jim Acosta has our full support."
When Sanders later tweeted a statement saying Trump "believes in a free press and expects and welcomes tough questions of him and his Administration" and that the suspension was due to the reporter's "putting his hands on" an White House press intern, Acosta simply responded: "This is a lie."
Meanwhile, critics of the move--including fellow journalists--unleashed on the White House online:
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.