CNN is making moves to prepare for the new reality of President-elect Donald J. Trump’s return to office, reportedly including the banishment of antagonistic gadfly Jim Acosta to the midnight time slot.
According to a scoop from former CNN media reporter Oliver Darcy, the cable “news” network’s chairman and CEO Mark Thompson put in a “peculiar telephone call” to the reporter in which he floated moving Acosta’s 10:00 a.m. show to the midnight hour, effectively exiling him to the “Siberia of television news” in what was suggested could be an olive branch extended to the new president.
“They want to get rid of Acosta to throw a bone to Trump,” a media insider told Darcy. “Midnight is not a serious offer when his ratings are among the best on the network.”
“The offer caught Acosta off guard. He had no reason to believe that his current show would be on the chopping block. In fact, his ratings have historically been some of the network’s strongest, both when he was anchoring on the weekends and now at 10am during the weekdays,” the ex-CNN censorship cheerleader wrote in The Status newsletter on Thursday.
“On some days, Acosta even out-rates some of CNN’s prime time programs. So why force him to move his show to the 12am hour, a time slot occupied by virtually zero other hosts in the cable news business?” Darcy asked. “The move would effectively exile Acosta to the Siberia of television news. He’d be manning down a shift when much of the country is fast asleep and viewership is at its lowest.”
He wrote, “it’s impossible to ignore the obvious: Sidelining Acosta would also work to curry favor with Donald Trump, who very much despises the CNN anchor.”
Trump has a history of clashing with Acosta who was a frequent pest during his first White House term, badgering the then-president at every opportunity to chase social media clout and make himself the story.
“CNN should be ashamed of itself for having you work for them. You are a rude terrible person. You shouldn’t be working for CNN,” Trump told Acosta during one notable exchange in 2018.
“You are a rude, terrible person. You shouldn’t be working for CNN,” Trump told CNN’s Jim Acosta during a press conference in which he repeatedly clashed with reporters. pic.twitter.com/OvWCcFap5g
— POLITICO (@politico) November 7, 2018
The reported relegating of Acosta to the graveyard shift is the latest move for the ratings challenged network as the new Trump era dawns in America and CNN struggles to remain relevant amid widespread public distrust of mainstream media.
In a major shakeup, star anchor Wolf Blitzer, the longtime host of “The Situation Room” will reportedly be teamed with Pamela Brown for a new morning show, sources told the Status newsletter.
In a Thursday post to X, Acosta shared his commentary on President Joe Biden’s farewell speech in which the censor in chief lamented the rise of social media as an alternative to the corrupt legacy media where regime mouthpieces have gaslighted Americans with their narratives.
Some final thoughts on today’s show… on the free press in America. The free press is only “crumbling” if we the people allow that to happen. Watch: pic.twitter.com/m6AAgGyTGU
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) January 16, 2025
“We are not the enemy of the people. We are the defenders of the people. Walter Cronkite once said, ‘freedom of the press is not just important to democracy. It is democracy,’” he pompously declared, using the words of the legendary newsman to defend the propagandists and liars of the modern era who are truly the enemies of the people.
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