CNN reportedly looking to bury Jim Acosta in graveyard shift to ‘throw a bone to Trump’
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‘They want to get rid of Acosta to throw a bone to Trump,’ one media exeucitve said of the proposed move, adding that ‘midnight is not a serious offer’. Some see the proposed move, which would involve Acosta hosting his program until the wee hours of the morning, as the network potentially seeking to curry favor with Donald Trump. The incoming president has long despised the outspoken Acosta. CNN has also recently taken a noticeably softened approach to the president-elect, including giving Trump defender Scott Jennings increased airtime.
“They want to get rid of Acosta to throw a bone to Trump,” one media executive told Darcy. “Midnight is not a serious offer when his ratings are among the best on the network.”. A CNN spokesperson and Acosta both declined to comment. The call caught the anchor off-guard, according to Darcy, particularly because Acosta didn’t feel like he was in any danger of losing his show or being demoted. While CNN has suffered record-low viewership in recent months, Acosta has historically been one of the top-rated hosts on the network. Despite helming a show at 10 a.m. ET, he has occasionally outdrawn some of his primetime colleagues.
“So why force him to move his show to the 12 a.m. hour, a time slot occupied by virtually zero other hosts in the cable news business?” Darcy wondered. “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.”.
