In a world of Joe Scarboroughs, be a Jim Acosta

The stakes are too high to bend the knee!

Joe Scarborough and Jim Acosta. Two popular cable news anchors who for the past few years both vocally and rightfully criticized Donald Trump. As the November 2024 election drew near, both stepped up their fact based warnings about the threat Trump posed to our democracy, our freedoms and our Constitution.

But after Trump “won” the election, the tale of these two anchors diverged. One of those anchors, Scarborough, flew down to Mar-A-Lago two weeks after Trump’s victory to make amends, telling us he did so to “restart communications” and set a “new approach” to their coverage of his incoming administration.

The other, Acosta, stuck to his values, continuing to hold Trump accountable—such as in early January when he slammed Trump for peddling lies about the New Year’s Day terrorist attack in New Orleans. Acosta declared on CNN about Trump, “Here he goes again,” and then demanded, “When there’s an act of terrorism in this country, the incoming president should tell the truth to the American people,” adding, “Isn’t that what the president should do at all times?!”

All of this is why this morning Scarborough was still co-hosting his show--while Acosta is out of job.

CNN executives had offered the veteran newscaster Acosta the “opportunity” to move from his morning slot to host at midnight to two AM--which has been described as the “Siberia of television news.” But obviously they wanted Trump critic Acosta out given the networks move to the right—which has been extensively reported on over the past two years.

And Acosta knew it. That is why on Tuesday Acosta signed off for the last time from CNN—but he did so on his terms, delivering comments that have gone viral.

The anchor first thanked the people at CNN. He then remarked how people often ask him what was the “highlight” of his career at CNN. Acosta explained that “moment came here when I covered former President Barack Obama’s trip to Cuba in 2016 and had the chance to question the dictator there, Raul Castro, about the island’s political prisoners.”

He then added this powerful line, “As the son of a Cuban refugee, I took home this lesson: It is never a good time to bow down to a tyrant.”

Acosta continued, “I have always believed it’s the job of the press to hold power to account. I’ve always tried to do that here at CNN, and I plan on doing all of that in the future.”

He then added these all-important words in the time of Trump’s second presidency, “One final message. Don’t give in to the lies. Don’t give in to the fear. Hold on to the truth and to hope.”

And with that, Acosta was gone from CNN after nearly 20 years. But CNN has been gone for several years as the network many of us valued since the new owners made a business decision to amplify more GOP voices—dubbing it, ironically enough, as embracing “political diversity.” In reality, as someone who used to appear on CNN often, there was always a GOP pundit on the other side. What the new right-wing owners of CNN meant is that they thought it was good for the bottom line to be more pro-GOP--and especially pro-Trump.

In fact, later in the same day Acosta made his plea to stand up to tyrants, there was CNN’s Brian Stelter heaping praise on Trump’s new press spokesperson Karoline Leavitt after her first briefing. Stelter declared, “Move over, Sean Hannity,” Trump “has just minted a new TV star,” adding, she was “incredibly smooth.” And then taking an apparent dig at Democrats, Stelter commented, “If you’re a Democrat right now, you’re asking yourself, where is our Karoline Leavitt?” he continued. “Who’s going to push back against Trump as effectively as she promotes him?”

In reality, despite her “smooth” delivery, her first appearance was filled with baseless right wing talking points. While Stelter did note Leavitt exaggerated, “just like her boss,” the correct word is that she lied. Yes, LIED!

But this is the same CNN where executives before Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration warned their anchors to not mention Trump’s “sordid past” during the inauguration coverage. As reported last week, CNN CEO Mark Thompson told journalists to avoid “pre-judging Trump” and that he didn’t want that “coverage to relitigate the past.” Many believe that even meant no mention during the inauguration coverage of Trump’s role in the Jan. 6 attack that took place in very venue the indoor inauguration was held.

However, to be fair, it’s far more than just CNN. As I’ve long written and spoken about, corporate media is not our friend. It’s simply a vessel to make money. There are some great journalists employed at these outlets--but they are forced to operate within a business model created by executives at large media outlets whose top priority is increasing revenue. In addition, many of these corporate executives, who are wealthy, want the tax cuts promised to the rich by the GOP and the GOP’s support for more corporate media mergers—which means big paydays. It’s impossible to believe these concerns don’t color the coverage.

After ABC News paid Trump $15 million in mid-December to settle a bogus defamation lawsuit, Acosta offered some comments on air that echo what he stated Tuesday. He first voiced concerns that ABC News paying this amount will have a “chilling effect” on the news industry. He rightfully noted, "there’s a lot of this bending the knee going on" at a time when “this is a time for our industry to stand firm."

Acosta then added lines that could not be more correct, namely that when Trump gets back in office the media will have a “very important job to do…because Trump is not going to change his ways when he gets back in the Oval Office." The anchor added, “He’s going to continue to say things that need to be fact checked.”

That is true. And while Acosta may be out at CNN, he is not going to stop being the same type of journalist who refused to bend a knee or bow down to a tyrant. In fact, he is doing that right here on Substack with The Jim Acosta show.

As Acosta said on Tuesday, “Don’t give in to the lies. Don’t give in to fear,” instead “Hold on to the truth and to hope.” Thankfully, with independent media and the powerful communities being built, we can both tenaciously pursue the truth and still have hope!

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