Media

White House Reporters Whine About ‘Tension’ With Trump

CNN

Amber Athey Podcast Columnist
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A group of White House reporters, including several CNN personalities, recently whined in a Variety feature about the “tension” they face covering President Donald Trump.

The piece is titled “Inside the Intense, Combative World of Covering the Trump White House” and includes interviews with CNN senior White House correspondent Jim Acosta, CNN political analyst April Ryan, Washington Post reporter Ashley Parker and other media figures.

The piece kicks off by recalling Acosta shouting a question at the president while he was coloring with children at the 2018 White House Easter Egg Roll. Acosta received some backlash for the question, and Variety writer Ted Johnson insisted, “most reporters share a sense that covering Trump is a challenge like no other.” (RELATED: Jim Acosta Yelled At Trump While He Was Coloring With Children At White House Easter Egg Roll)

Acosta said that there has always been a “natural tension” between the press and the people they cover, but added, “We were never called ‘fake news.’ We were never called ‘the enemy of the people,’ and that just created a totally different climate and environment that we are all trying to make sense of and trying to figure out: How do we cover the news in that kind of toxic environment?”

Acosta went on to complain that he gets “threat[s] of violence” and “more death threats than I can count.”

April Ryan agreed, claiming, “I actively get death threats just for asking a question… I have law enforcement on speed dial.”

There’s always retaliation, but never on this scale,” Ryan said. “They will try to disparage your name. It has gone into personal attacks.”

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