Tuesday on “The Hugh Hewitt Show,” CNN chief White House correspondent Jim Acosta took some shots at Fox News Channel and hosts Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity, saying neither of them are “willing” to meet him “on the schoolyard.”
Host Hugh Hewitt noted Acosta wrote in his recent book, “Enemy of the People,” that Fox News acts as “propagandists” for President Donald Trump.
Acosta said he stands by his remarks, saying network hosts like Carlson and Hannity are “fixated on the conspiracy theories” spread by the president. He also likened Fox News to Cuban state television.
“Have we ever witnessed a situation like that, where a network essentially just serves as an amplifier of the president’s message of the day, and to some extent, focused and fixated on the conspiracy theories that he spreads?” Acosta asked. “That, to me, is very much the definition of propaganda and state TV.”
Hewitt challenged Acosta, “[Y]ou’re attempting to delegitimize the hours between 8 and 11 on Fox by calling it propaganda and state TV. The president’s attempting to delegitimize CNN by calling it fake news. If you object to fake news, I don’t know how you can use propaganda. I don’t use either of them.”
“We have not seen one particular network essentially serve as an arm of the administration,” Acosta said after saying previous presidents in his lifetime have never been so openly high on just one network.
The CNN correspondent then shifted to Carlson and Hannity, who he said have gone after him “on a number of occasions” but will not have him on their shows to defend himself.
“I feel as though I have a right to defend myself. And I think what you do see during those hours is not even remotely close to anything resembling the news,” Acosta stated
He later added, “The likes of Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson, they’re willing to go off on me on their shows, but they’re not willing to have me on in person to defend myself. What’s with that? You know, if you’re so darn tough, why don’t you give me an invitation to come on your show? What I’ve found over the last few days is that they’re not willing to do that. They’re willing to shoot spitballs from the sidelines like the class clown, but they’re not willing to meet me out on the schoolyard. And that’s on them.”
Both Hannity and Carlson have previously responded to Acosta’s attacks.
“No one’s ever accused Jim Acosta of being a genius, but even by our estimate, it’s pretty shocking that he is so proud of himself,” Carlson said of the CNN correspondent last week.
Hannity offered his reaction to Acosta on Twitter.
Follow Trent Baker on Twitter @MagnifiTrent