Jim Acosta

Jim Acosta is known as an American journalist. He is most famous for being the chief White House correspondent at CNN.

Background

Abilio James Acosta was born on April 17, 1971 in Washington, D.C. He attended Annandale High School before moving on to James Madison University. He graduated from college with a Bachelor’s Degree in Mass Communication while also minoring in Political Science in 1993.

At a young age, Jim was interested in reporting and took the time to develop his reporting skills. At college, he volunteered for the student-run radio station called WXJM. He was also a reporter for the WSVA local radio station.

Relationships

Jim Acosta is married to Sharon Mobley Stow and together they have a child. The family lives in Manhattan. Even though his work keeps him on the constant move, he does his best to balance both his professional and family life. Sharon is an understanding and supportive wife. Both Acosta and his wife make many sacrifices and respect each other tremendously.

Career

Acosta’s journalism career started with the WMAL-AM radio station in Washington. In 1995, he moved on to reporting for CBS KTVT-TV. In 2000, he shifted to another unit of CBS, WBBM-TV. From there, he moved to CBS Newspath as their 24-hour news service correspondent. During his time there, he covered the September 11th terrorist attacks and the Washington sniper story. He worked for WBIR-TV in Knoxville, Tennessee, as a substitute anchor.

A major story he covered at CBS was the Iraq war where he was reporting live from the war zone in Baghdad. He also reported on Hurricane Katrina, which was one of the largest natural disasters in the history of the United States. He also reported on the major 2003 blackout that affected most of the cities in the Northeast of the United States. He also anchored coverage of the Pennsylvania miner rescue.

Big Break with CNN

Jim joined CNN in 2007 working as an anchor for Ballot Bowl, the weekend political show. His popularity increased after joining CNN, making him one of the most revered journalists in the United States of America. His success as a journalist was credited to his excellent coverage of major political events.

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His journalism coverage included policy changes and post-cold war conditions in Cuba when the Obama administration lifted restrictions in 2009. He covered several major historical events for CNN. One of his most significant works was his coverage of America’s Choice 2012 Election covering GOP presidential candidates. During coverage of the GOP presidential candidates’ campaigns, he followed them on the trail and he also held a one-on-one interview with the presidential candidate, Mitt Romney. He then covered both of President Obama’s inauguration ceremonies and also took part in the mid-term election coverage.

Because of his successful reporting of the 2012 campaign trail, Jim was promoted as a national political correspondent. He was also hired to host CNN’s American Morning Program. As a national political correspondent, he covered President Obama’s administration and the various issues regarding his administration. He covered the president’s press conferences, visits by other heads of countries from across the world, and matters relating to the executive branch of the federal government. In the 2016 presidential campaigns, Acosta covered and followed Donald Trump’s campaign during the presidential elections.

Feud With Donald Trump

During a press conference on January 11, 2017, Acosta grilled President Trump with hard questions but was brushed off with the phrase “fake news”. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Jim spoke about his combative relationship with the president, “Ever since then, and this is what gets under their skin, we’ve had to be fact-checkers in real-time. We’ve had to try to tell the truth in real-time when the president says, ‘Barack Obama wiretapped me at Trump Tower.’ Not true. When he says, ‘Millions of undocumented people voted in the election, and that’s why I lost the popular vote.’ That’s not true. The foundation of his political career was built on a lie that Barack Obama was not born in this country. Listen, these are tough times, and there are some tough questions to be asked. But I don’t think we do ourselves any good if we shy away from these hard questions.”

Awards and Recognitions

Jim Acosta was recognized for his many contributions. He was nominated for the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Morning Program and received the News & Documentary Emmy for Outstanding Live Coverage of a Current News Story – Long Form.

He also received the Distinguished Alumni award from the JMU Alumni Associations which is a prestigious honor from the association. This was in recognition of his outstanding job as a journalist since he started his career.

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