It’s a tough day for CNN’s Jim Acosta and Brian Stelter—two men who seem to treat their press passes as golden shields of self-righteousness—after ABC News agreed to settle a $15 million defamation suit with President-elect Donald Trump.
Cue the dramatic handwringing. Acosta and Stelter spent their airtime lamenting what they described as a “chilling effect” on the media, insinuating that the settlement signals some grand threat to journalism itself. In other words, Trump did what Trump does—he fought back—and the media bubble is now gasping for air.
Let’s take a step back and look at what actually happened. ABC News and George Stephanopoulos had to pay up and apologize because they got the facts wrong. Period. They ran with the claim that Trump had been found “liable for rape,” when, in reality, the jury determined he was liable for “sexual abuse” under New York law—a distinction that matters, especially when you’re talking about defamation.
Trump called them out, filed a lawsuit, and lo and behold—ABC folded. So, this isn’t about some tyrannical war on the media; it’s about accountability. You know, that thing journalists always preach about but don’t particularly like when the spotlight turns on them.
But here comes Jim Acosta, clutching his pearls, talking about journalists needing to “stand firm” in the face of this so-called attack on the news industry. Really, Jim? Is it standing firm to misrepresent facts, refuse to correct them, and then cry foul when someone demands accountability? Because that’s exactly what’s happening here. There’s no chilling effect on the media if the media does its job correctly. If journalists stop blurring lines between fact, spin, and outright bias, they wouldn’t have to worry about defamation lawsuits in the first place.
Brian Stelter chimed in with his usual melodrama, declaring that media lawyers are now preparing for “more lawsuits, more leak investigations, more subpoenas.” Here’s a thought: maybe, just maybe, the press wouldn’t need to prep for lawsuits if they’d stop playing fast and loose with the truth. Trump’s critics have spent years calling him a liar, and they’ve set themselves up as the arbiters of truth. Well, as it turns out, when you live in a glass house, you shouldn’t be throwing stones—or, in this case, headlines that are blatantly wrong.
The real irony here is that the same folks lamenting a “climate of fear” are the ones who helped create it. Acosta himself became a household name for his performative clashes with Trump during press briefings, positioning himself as the face of the so-called “resistance press.”
The result? Journalism devolved into activism, facts took a back seat to narratives, and now outlets like ABC are paying the price—literally. This settlement isn’t Trump trying to “silence” the press; it’s a consequence of the media forgetting that their job is to inform the public, not drive a partisan agenda.
But Acosta wouldn’t be Acosta if he didn’t make this about some noble crusade. He warned that Trump would continue to say things that need to be “fact-checked,” as if the media hadn’t spent the last decade fact-checking him into oblivion while simultaneously letting other political figures slide. It’s hard to take his righteous indignation seriously when there’s such a glaring double standard.
CNN’s Jim Acosta and Brian Stelter are playing the victim because ABC lied, got caught, and paid the price.
The media is blatantly arguing that they should not be held accountable for lying to you. pic.twitter.com/YllmqgUasf
— Media Lies (@MediasLies) December 16, 2024
Let’s call this what it really is: the media is being put on notice. The days of casually slandering political opponents without consequence might just be over. If Trump’s lawsuit against ABC teaches anything, it’s that media outlets will have to be more careful when they report—and that’s a good thing. Accountability doesn’t undermine journalism; it strengthens it. If Acosta and Stelter really cared about their “important job,” they’d focus on getting the facts right rather than playing the perpetual victim.
So, no, this isn’t a chilling effect. It’s a wake-up call. Maybe, just maybe, the media should stand up straighter—not to resist Trump, but to resist the urge to sacrifice accuracy for headlines. That’s the real “balancing act” they should be worried about.
