CNN made Jim Acosta an offer he could refuse, and he did.
The veteran journalist known for his aggressive coverage of the Trump administration told viewers Tuesday that he will leave the network rather than take a new role as anchor of a live two-hour newscast that would start at midnight Eastern time.
“I’ve decided to move on,” Acosta said at the end of his “CNN Newsroom” broadcast. “One final message, don’t give in to the lies, don’t give in to the fear.”
Acosta, 53, joined CNN in 2007 after a stint at CBS News. He gained prominence as a national political correspondent and became the network’s chief White House correspondent in 2018.
“Jim has had a long, distinguished nearly 20-year career at CNN, with a track record of standing up to authority, for the first amendment and for our journalistic freedoms,” the network said in a statement. “We want to thank him for the dedication and commitment he’s brought to his reporting and wish him the very best in the future.”
Acosta’s decision comes after CNN announced a shake-up of its daytime schedule. The network is moving “The Situation Room” with anchors Wolf Blitzer and Pamela Brown into the 10 a.m. Eastern hour, where viewers have found Acosta since early last year. The changes are set to occur in March.
CNN Chair Mark Thompson presented the late-night time slot to Acosta as an opportunity to do a fresh newscast that airs in prime time on the West Coast, where cable news outlets now run repeats of programs from earlier in the evening.
But the proposed move has largely been perceived as banishing the journalist to a TV backwater where viewers and advertiser dollars are scant.
The political environment also made CNN’s reasoning appear dubious to some. Acosta has been among the most combative journalists covering the Trump administration. A 2018 briefing room dust-up during the president’s first term led to a suspension of Acosta’s White House press credential, which a court reinstated.
A number of political commentators have said CNN wanted to move Acosta out of a more visible time period as a way of placating Trump, who is known for being vengeful toward his media critics. Acosta’s exit will further the narrative that CNN has softened its approach to covering Trump in his second term.
There has been an ongoing effort by CNN to lure back conservative and Republican voters since the network became part of the David Zaslav-run Warner Bros. Discovery in 2022.
“Acosta is one of your most independent, unafraid hosts,” Joe Walsh, a former Republican congressman and frequent CNN guest, wrote Thursday on X. “To demote him to … appease the crybaby in the White House is pathetic. And an abdication of your duty to hold ALL public officials to account. Shame on you CNN.”
In his farewell statement, Acosta said he would have more to say about his future plans “in the coming days.”
