Undaunted

“It is never a good time to bow down to a tyrant.”

Each week, The Contrarian features a standout figure for democracy. For this week, we honor former CNN-anchor and host, Jim Acosta.

We here at the Contrarian have a soft spot for journalists who leave legacy media outlets that are falling short in defending the cause of democracy. As you all know, I left the Washington Post; Norm Eisen left CNN. And our newest contributor Paul Krugman left the New York Times, sharing his story with The Contrarian. This week another journalist, CNN’s Jim Acosta, drew his line in the sand.

CNN, it was widely reported, told Acosta that if he wanted to keep his show at CNN he would have to move to the graveyard shift, Midnight to 2 a.m. Understandably, many TV news insiders and viewers saw that as an effort to muzzle one of the most aggressive journalists around, someone noted and renowned among the left for getting under Donald Trump’s skin in the first Trump term. (He so enraged Trump the White House attempted to yank his press pass, only to retreat when challenged.)

It surely could not have been motivated by a desire to improve ratings. “Cable television viewership declines substantially after the prime-time hours of 8 to 11 p.m. Eastern, and it probably would have been very difficult for Acosta to book guests willing to appear after midnight,” The Washington Post reported. Furthermore, the shift was clearly not motivated by the audience, as “While CNN’s viewership is down significantly since the November election, Acosta’s morning show performed relatively well.”

Acosta refused to go into TV purgatory. Instead, he quit. On January 28, he signed off his last broadcast this way:

His warnings seem aimed not only at CNN but at the larger American public reeling under the onslaught of Trump’s attempt to bulldoze functional government and assert untrammeled executive authority. “As a son of a Cuban refugee, I took home this lesson,” Acosta said. “It is never a good time to bow down to a tyrant.”

That admonition surely resonated with ordinary Americans, but should also do the same with powerful media moguls, business leaders, and politicians of both parties (all three of which have shown far too much deference to the would-be autocrat). Acosta also stressed the psychological toll that autocrats seek to inflict.

“Don’t give in to the lies. Don’t give in to the fear,” he urged his viewers. “Hold on to the truth and to hope. Even if you have to get out your phone, record that message. ‘I will not give in to the lies. I will not give in to the fear.’”

In these times, that qualifies as an incendiary message for news organizations twisting themselves into knots to accommodate the Trump regime and search (futilely) for MAGA viewers. A network that hires Scott Jennings—widely ridiculed for spewing MAGA propaganda and defending the indefensible—and that presents subdued coverage of the Inauguration, hosted by previously hard-hitting hosts such as Jake Tapper and Anderson Cooper, would of course view Acosta as a thorn in their side.

His departure certainly triggered Trump, who lashed out his Truth Social: “Wow, really good news! Jim Acosta, one of the worst and most dishonest reporters in journalistic history, a major sleazebag, has been relegated by CNN Fake News to the Midnight hour.”

Acosta punched back. “Looks like somebody has ADS: Acosta Derangement Syndrome,” he wisecracked.

After his departure, Acosta demonstrated the talent he can bring to coverage. In a conversation with our publisher Norm Eisen, Acosta reiterated how critical it is to bring big stories down to a personal level. Talking about the “human element” of the illegal attempt to shut off federal funds, Acosta shared, “I was talking about this with Rosa DeLauro, the congresswoman from Connecticut, who… was in a school that has lots of at-risk kids, kids who need free breakfast, breakfast programs, head start type programs, after school programs.” He continued, “And those are all programs that could potentially be impacted by could very well be impacted by this maneuver. And so, you know, for all the talk that this election was about putting food on the table, you shouldn't be in the business of taking food off of the table of our children in this country.” He summed up: “And so that has to be called out. And so, yes, there is a legal aspect of this. There are autocratic tendencies that have to be called out. But my God, there's a human element of this. How can you do this to kids to make a political point?”

It's frankly depressing to see many of the best journalists—passionate, unabashed, clear-eyed in the obligation to defend democracy—be shunted aside. We can only hope that Acosta, as many of us at The Contrarian here have found, discovers that life and work outside corporate media strictures are rewarding and productive.

For all the reasons that he was a thorn in CNN’s side, we choose to honor him this week, confident in our knowledge that he will remain undaunted.