Acosta is entitled to think what he likes about both immigration and Trump. But no matter your opinion of the significance of the Statue of Liberty poem — the text of which hasn’t had much to do with U.S. immigration policy since 1924, when serious restrictions were first introduced — the problem here is a reporter who doesn’t know the difference between news and opinion. Were he a columnist or an opinionated host in the manner of Don Lemon or Sean Hannity, no one would be able to complain about his venting of opinions. But as long as he is presenting himself as a reporter, he can’t be making policy speeches at the daily presser.
It’s true that the church–state–style divide between those two categories has often been blurred in the age of the Internet, as opinion has become the factor that drives both television ratings and Web traffic. Analysis articles that are thinly disguised opinion columns are common on the front page of the New York Times and other newspapers. But while many of the hours broadcast on the cable-news channels are specifically devoted to the airing of opinions, we still have a right to expect reporters — especially those holding prestigious chairs at White House pressers — to act like reporters rather than columnists when given a chance to question the administration.
Acosta failed that test, and — in another era, when institutions like CNN cared more about presenting a façade of objectivity — his performance at the briefing would have cost him his job. Instead, he continues in his post while basking in the fame associated with being a hero to the Left and a villain to the Right.
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