AT & T CEO criticizes the White House on the treatment of CNN reporter Jim Acosta



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Chief Executive Randall Stephenson retorted to the White House after deciding to suspend the press powers of a CNN correspondent, claiming that officials had ignored the established procedures in a manner that seemed violate the protections of the freedom of the press.

The Trump administration suspended the powers of Jim Acosta, CNN's chief correspondent at the White House, because he had "placed his hands" on a White House intern who was trying to take him the microphone at a press conference after President Trump had declared that he was no longer going to talk to him. The video of the press conference showed that Mr Acosta was holding the microphone and was briefly in touch with the trainee.

"If the White House wants to get the press credentials of someone, there is a process," Stephenson said at WSJ Tech D.Live's Wall Street Journal conference on Monday. "This process must be followed, otherwise what are the criteria for obtaining press credentials from someone?"

"You did not like the series of questions? Well, that seems to violate our freedom of the press protections, "he said.

Mr. Stephenson, who has led the telecommunications giant since 2007, assumed a new role as a media mogul after the completion of AT & T's acquisition of Time Warner Inc. in June, as a result of 39, a long antitrust fight. Time Warner includes CNN and other media.

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders tweeted a video of the incident involving Mr. Acosta, which appears to have been modified to make the journalist's actions more aggressive, according to a report by Storyful, a social media intelligence company owned by News. Corp, the parent company of the newspaper.

"If the president does not like his conduct in the newsroom, there is a process to say he does not like it," said Stephenson. "There was no process followed."

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment late Monday.

In addition, Mr. Stephenson again called for clearer standards for network neutrality rules, stating that no company should be allowed to slow down its content.

"We do not really have legislative clarity," he said, adding that companies "should not be able to prevent you from accessing Netflix or other activities." of your choice".

Internet service providers "should not be allowed to strangle the content of someone else," he said, citing the practice of slowing the speed of Internet connections. And he said any device should be allowed to connect to the Internet without interference.

"There should be no blockage," said Stephenson.

Published in the print edition of November 13, 2018, under the title: "The AT & T chief criticizes the White House about a dispute with CNN".

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