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Comment by GhostVII | Hacker News Reader

Why is this even being talked about? The intern grabbed the microphone, he pushed her arm out of the way, it doesn't really seem like a big issue at all. Even in the gif it looks pretty minor.

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It's being talked about because the Press Secretary of the President of the United States cited this particular video as proof that a journalist was violent with this intern. The White House wants this to be a story, and they're lying (and literally fabricating evidence, or at least trafficing in fabricated evidence) to do it.

It's being talked about because the Press Secretary of the President of the United States lied to everyone.

>>Why is this even being talked about?

-A major news outlet had one of their major White House reporter's press pass revoked. -The President's press secretary cited a doctored/edited video as evidence of the behavior that resulted in this revocation. -The President of the United States has been on a 3 year long campaign to sew distrust in media sources he doesn't feel portray him favorably. -The President of the United States has blatantly and openly lied about information he felt was affecting his policy making, causing many people on both sides of the aisle to distrust his ability to objectively lead the country. This interaction occurred during a press conference in which the President was again repeating blatant lie, as well as the less offensive ignoring and misdirection of unfavorable questions.

Would you like me to keep going?

When the President of the U.S. runs a press conference and wants to move on to the next question, that's the President's right. It's not Acosta's place to run the press conference and control it. He's one of 60 journalists in that room. There's 1 President. Ok, if you were in a court room, the judge runs the show. When you're in the White House, the President runs the show. Simple as that.

That's fair. The President can run his press group however he wants.

But we, as citizens, can also fairly criticize the President for pushing the doctored video and lying to us. This doctored video is proof positive that the White House Press Secretary is willing to photoshop videos to push their viewpoint.

This is a sad day in America. We all know the technology is possible, but to use it on such a trivial issue as "who was trying to grab the microphone" just demonstrates the poor sense of judgement of the current administration.

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The President has the ability to revoke the Press Pass of whoever he wants. But why would they push a false story while doing so? This isn't even that important of an issue, but to see them doctoring up videos and pushing them around is... worrying... to me.

The video wasn't doctored. They're arguing about the frame rate and whether it was sped up or down. Acosta clearly used force against the staffer's arm. Whether he used 100 Newtons or 200 Newtons... nobody cares. It's the principle, and the disruption and the grandstanding.

I agree that the President as the right to move on to the next question, I was more wondering why people seemed to be focusing on this "confrontation" when, to me, it seemed like nothing of consequence actually happened. It just doesn't make sense to me why this incident is even being talked about when it is so minor.

It’s a big deal because the White House made it a big deal by revoking Acosta’s press pass.

The White House is making it a big deal to use as reasoning for pulling Acosta's press credentials indefinitely.

Did you watch the real video? He didn't push her arm away at all. He was already gesturing with his left arm when the WH staffer approached.

If you watch the slowed down video, the only person doing the touching is the WH staffer... https://twitter.com/SarahBurris/status/1060349547958951937

Because the Trump administration cancelled Acosta's press credentials and the Secret Service barred him from entering the White House.

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