CNN reporter Jim Acosta’s reporting on celebrity activists is under fire after recent remarks about Kim Kardashian West’s Oval Office meeting with President Trump.
The network’s chief White House correspondent found out on Wednesday evening that the internet never forgets. His decision to pan a prison reform meeting between Kardashian West and the commander in chief was greeted by industry colleagues who reminded him of his coverage on this same issue under former President Obama.
Great meeting with @KimKardashian today, talked about prison reform and sentencing. pic.twitter.com/uOy4UJ41JF
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 30, 2018
“She shouldn’t be here, talking about prison reform, it’s very nice that she is here but that’s not a serious thing to have happened here at the White House,” Mr. Acosta said after the celebrity implored Mr. Trump to grant a pardon for Alice Marie Johnson, a great-grandmother serving a life sentence for a nonviolent drug offense.
Mediaite’s Joseph Wulfsohn, Fox News, the Daily Caller, and the conservative blog Hot Air were just a few of the media outlets to revisit Mr. Acosta’s coverage of the same issue with singer John Legend.
“Acosta sat down with the Grammy-winning artist and discussed his music, Black Lives Matter, and yes, prison reform, something Legend at the time was planning on meeting with Obama about,” Mediaite’s Joseph A. Wulfsohn wrote Thursday.
Acosta was genuinely engaged with Legend during the interview and took him seriously not only as an entertainer but as a political thinker.”
An April 24, 2015, tweet by Mr. Acosta included a picture of him with Mr. Legend that said, “After #WHCD tune in for a must see interview with the great @johnlegend who joins us this Sunday on @CNNsotu.”
After #WHCD tune in for a must see interview with the great @johnlegend who joins us this Sunday on @CNNsotu pic.twitter.com/EtTsIc3IOT
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) April 25, 2015
Fox News contributor Stephen Miller tweeted the CNN reporter with a side-by-side comparison of coverage during the Obama and Trump years but received no response.
CNN did not immediately respond to a request for comment when contacted by Fox.
— Stephen Miller (@redsteeze) May 31, 2018
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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