by Ella Carroll-Smith on December 30, 2020

CNN’s Chief White House correspondent, Jim Acosta, has been one of the most vocal Trump critics over the last four years. His dogged coverage of the current administration seemed almost antagonistic at times – like Acosta had a personal vendetta against Trump.

Well, Acosta just admitted that’s pretty much exactly what’s been going on, but he wouldn’t dare treat Biden the same way.

In a recent article in The Atlantic regarding the media’s coverage of Trump, Acosta explained that while “the drama has made him famous, [he] doesn’t expect to bring the same crusading style to his coverage of the next administration. ‘I don’t think the press should be trying to whip up the Biden presidency and turn it into must-see TV in a contrived way,’ [Acosta] said.”

To most reasonable people, that would sound like the textbook definition of a double standard. But Acosta doesn’t think so. According to him, “it’s not partisan — it’s a matter of professional solidarity. In his view, Trump’s campaign to discredit the press has constituted a ‘nonstop national emergency,’ one that required a defiant response.” 

This kind of clear bias is what CNN considers hard-hitting, objective journalism nowadays. The most intriguing thing about this Atlantic article is that it reveals the dirty little secret about the mainstream media machine: they are nothing without Trump. 

Trump has boosted their egos and their ratings over the last four years and now that he’s got one foot out the door, the media are panicking to figure out what comes next: “Should the press strive for a similarly adversarial relationship with Biden? Will their new fans revolt if they start doing tough stories on Democrats?” 

If we’re to believe Acosta, who is somewhat of an avatar for the mainstream media at large, then Biden will continue to receive kid-glove treatment from the media—the same treatment he got throughout his presidential campaign. That strategy worked to the media’s advantage by getting Biden elected, so why would they reverse course and become “fair and balanced” now?

This article is republished with permission from our friends at Accuracy In Media