CNN anchor Jim Acosta showed off a fan-made, pro-Acosta sign he’d kept for eight years as he preached about journalists’ importance to cap off his Thursday show.
"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 said.
"I want to take a moment to show you something," he continued as he pulled out a pink poster. "A woman sent me this sign eight years ago. She carried it here at a march in Washington."
The sign showed a raised fist holding a pencil. At the top, it read, "I march for Jim Acosta and a free press."
"She wrote on the back of the sign to me and the press here in D.C., ‘You have our support.’ To Norah, wherever you are, right back at you," Acosta, a CNN Newsroom host, said. Then he signed off.
Acosta, known for his combative outbursts while covering the first Trump administration, was expanding on comments President Joe Biden made during his Wednesday farewell address from the Oval Office. Biden listed his concerns such as the "tech-industrial complex," a "crumbling free press," an "avalanche of misinformation and disinformation," and an "oligarchy of extreme wealth."
"I want to take a moment to talk about something President Biden said during his farewell address. He warned the free press is crumbling in this country," Acosta said before whipping out the poster. "I would add: That’s only if we, the people, let that happen."
Biden also encouraged Americans to "stand guard" and "be the keeper of the flame" to ensure U.S. institutions endure. He cited, for example, holding accountable social media platforms that "smothered" the truth and abandoned fact-checking.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg last week eliminated "politically biased" fact-checkers and detailed how the Biden administration pressured the social media company to censor posts, including satirical ones, about the COVID-19 vaccine.
"We are not the enemy of the people. We are the defenders of the people," Acosta said Thursday.