We have to step into this fray, and contrary to what many of you may think we do and have done here for nearly 16 years, we're going to have to side with the White House and the Trump administration.
The issue is the one regarding CNN's Jim Acosta and his access pass being revoked.
The White House is not a courthouse. Access is restricted for any and everyone; you can't just walk in. One has to abide by the rules in order to access it.
The administration is a government entity. Under the First Amendment, anything and everything short of completely defamatory statements can lawfully be "said" about them. Anyone at all can "cover" happenings there in their own style; in other words, one can write/broadcast/etc. the "news" of happenings there.
The twain, however, do not necessarily meet.
Physical access to the physical locale can and should be issued by the authorities therein at the White House. This includes coverage of news events, including press conferences. Not every dillweed who wants to "cover" these events can just walk right in and start covering. This is true for our own statehouse here in Illinois, where we have to request and obtain floor passes if we want to cover the happenings. We have done so, and we abide by the rules. If for whatever reason our requests are denied, we can take it up with the deniers and find out WHY, but we cannot demand physical access. The REASONS for denial need to be considered, which are not the actual denial in and of itself. If the reasons given are viable, and hold up in court, so be it. That, however, could take years to litigate. Stomping our feet and balling up our fists in a fit of pique isn't going to change that.
Same thing with Acosta.
Let's be clear: Jim Acosta is an idiot. CNN is wholly idiotic and staffed/run/is peopled by idiots. They are not "news." They ceased being "news" ages ago. They are nothing but opinion-based talking heads. They can issue opinions all day long about anything they want....without having physical access to the White House for one lone little pissant.
The White House, in our opinion, was right in revoking his hard pass. There are other people CNN can send who behave like reporters, and don't physically assault an intern (and make no mistake...he did. We saw it live. He swatted that girl, even brushing her breast when he did it. There's no "doctored" video, only a slo-mo one. If we're going to start calling slow-motion video "doctored," please then apply that to football, or shut up.) CNN needed to shut up and take their lumps, but they did not.
So what CNN has now done is to forward the agenda for "someone" to define what a "journalist" is. And that's where the slippery slope gets watered and the mud begins to flow.
This is going nowhere good. CNN is behind it; if the White House and the Trump administration are as smart as they appear to be, they won't fall for the bait.
But until we see how it shakes out, we're going to have to disagree with this decision.