CNN anchor Jim Acosta blasted President-elect Donald Trump in a news segment on Thursday while defending a free and fair press in America — declaring that journalists are “not the enemy of the people.”
The frequent Trump antagonist ended his show on the embattled network preaching about the importance of the media in a democracy after outgoing President Biden, 82, warned that the “free press is crumbling” in his farewell address to the nation Wednesday night.
“I want to take a moment to talk about something President Biden said during his farewell address,” Acosta said at the start of his nearly minute-long speech.
“He warned the free press is crumbling in this country. I would add, that’s only if we, the people, let that happen,” he continued.
“Journalists exist to seek the truth, to tell people’s stories, to lift up voices that may not be heard otherwise, to shine a light on injustice and to hold the powerful accountable,” Acosta added.
“We are not the enemy of the people. We are the defenders of the people. Walter Cronkite once said, ‘freedom of the press is not just important to democracy. It is democracy’.”
The apparent message to Trump — which comes just days before he will be sworn in as America’s 47th president — was seemingly in response to the president-elect’s repeated comments over the last decade referring to the press as “the enemy of the people.”
Trump has also frequently slammed critical news reports as “Fake News.”
The CNN anchor capped off his monologue by holding up a bright pink poster that was given to him by a viewer at the start of Trump’s first administration in 2016. The placard featured a hand-drawn fist holding a pencil below the words, “I March For Jim Acosta and a FREE PRESS.”
“I want to take a moment to show you something. A woman sent me this sign eight years ago,” the liberal-leaning commentator said.
“She carried it here at a march in Washington. She wrote on the back of the sign to me and the press here in DC, ‘you have our support.’ To Nora, wherever you are, right back at you.”
Acosta, who shared the clip on his X platform, was praised by some for his remarks, while others knocked him for his “vainglorious self-flattery” and “self-importance.”
“I think one thing that makes people dislike media personalities like Acosta – beyond the dishonesty – is this kind of vainglorious self-flattery,” reporter Drew Holden posted on X.
“I think a little less soapbox would go a long way, not just for him, but for CNN, and the corporate press more broadly.”
Biden, the oldest serving US president, also took swipes at the incoming president and ally Elon Musk during his address in the Oval Office, claiming “an oligarchy” is on the horizon.
The commander in chief also called for the Constitution to be amended to ensure “no president is immune from crimes that he or she commits while in office.”
