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CNN's Jim Acosta: Great at Making a Scene, Not So Great at Actual Reporting

Here are the CNN reporter's best 'scoops'

April 5, 2020

CNN chief White House correspondent Jim Acosta has made a name for himself by shouting questions at President Donald J. Trump and putting his life on the line whenever cameras are rolling in the White House briefing room. On Friday, for example, the intrepid reporter attempted to mansplain the coronavirus to Dr. Deborah Birx.

Acosta recently published a book, The Enemy of the People, about how the past several years have been "a dangerous time to tell the truth in America." One reason he wrote the book, Acosta explained, is that he wanted his children "to grow up in a country where, you know, we can still shout questions at the president." Making a scene on television was a tremendous "sacrifice," the reporter acknowledged, but one that he knows "will be worth it."

When it comes to making a scene, Acosta is the best in the game. However, not all of his colleagues in journalism are impressed by his unique skill set. ABC's Jon Karl, for example, had some harsh words for Acosta in his own recently published book, Front Row at the Trump Show.

Karl, the president of the White House Correspondents' Association, criticized Acosta for frequently behaving like an "opinion journalist" and taking a "soapbox" approach that played "right into the explicit Trump strategy of portraying the press as the opposition party."

When it comes to actual reporting, Acosta is at best mediocre—no better or worse than a random college journalism student. If cable news did not exist, few if any newspapers would be scrambling to hire him. When the cameras aren't rolling, Acosta's ability to perform actual journalism by obtaining insightful information from sources is, shall we say, underwhelming.

Here, for example, are some of Acosta's best "scoops" over the course of his "reporting" on the Trump administration.

The time he exposed the fact that the Secret Service was concerned about a Chinese national breaking into Mar-a-Lago:

The time he uncovered explosive details about the contents of an upcoming Trump speech:

The time he discovered how press conferences work:

The time he exposed the Trump administration for being curious about Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into election meddling: 

The time he uncovered the truth about how "pissed" Trump was:

The times he found out where Dr. Anthony Fauci was:

The time he read a White House press release:

The time he snapped an epic pic of a White House staffer carrying paper towels:

And last but not least, the time he OWNED Trump for tweeting a FABRICATED image of Conan, the hero dog who killed ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi:

Published under: CNN , Jim Acosta