Hours after signing off from CNN for the final time following his rejection of the network’s proposal to take his news program to the “graveyard” midnight shift, Jim Acosta revealed that he is “going independent” and launching a new show on Substack.
“After two decades of service, I am leaving CNN to start a new chapter, and I won’t pull any punches this time around, either. I owe that to myself and to you,” Acosta said in a press release.
“As I said during my sign-off at the end of my final show on CNN … Don’t give in to the lies. Don’t give in to fear. Hold on to the truth. Hold on to hope,” Acosta added. “In the meantime … To President Trump and his allies, you may think you have silenced me. But guess again.”
In a short video shared on his new Substack link, the now-former CNN anchor said he wanted to “jump on Substack Live for a moment” and welcome prospective subscribers to his new venture.
CNN anchor Jim Acosta said he was “still reporting from Washington” on Thursday while his future at the network remains in doubt. (CNN)
Acosta joins a growing list of mainstream news journalists and personalities who have ditched legacy media to go the independent route on Substack. After his MSNBC show was canceled in early 2024, Mehdi Hasanleft the network and launched the media company Zeteo on the platform. He has since pulled in tens of thousands of paying subscribers and an emerging roster of high-profile reporters and contributors. (Disclaimer: This reporter worked for Zeteo until last November.)
Earlier on Tuesday, Acosta informed CNN viewers that he would be leaving the network after 18 years, letting them know that it came after some “careful consideration and weighing an alternative time slot” the network had offered him. He also delivered a serious final message to his audience.
“It is never a good time to bow down to a tyrant,” he said, adding: “Don’t give in to the lies. Don’t give in to the fear.”
Acosta’s departure comes after CNN chief executive Mark Thompson proposed moving him from his 10 a.m. ET weekday slot to a shift that would begin at midnight and not end until 2 a.m. on the East Coast.
While the network head attempted to portray the move to the “Siberia of television” as an opportunity, noting that Acosta would air in primetime on the West Coast and be simulcast on CNN International, critics have suggested that it was an effort to exile Acosta to late-night to curry favor with Donald Trump.
“They want to get rid of Acosta to throw a bone to Trump,” one media executive said of the proposed offer. “Midnight is not a serious offer when his ratings are among the best on the network.”
Though Thompson told Acosta – an outspoken Trump critic – that the offer had nothing to do with his editorial style and was merely about finding an extra hour amid a programming shakeup, the president was ecstatic that Acosta was on the outs.
“Wow, really good news! Jim Acosta, one of the worst and most dishonest reporters in journalistic history, a major sleazebag, has been relegated by CNN Fake News to the Midnight hour, ‘Death Valley,’ because of extraordinarily BAD RATINGS (and no talent!)” Trump posted on Tuesday morning. “Word is that he wants to QUIT, and that would be even better. Jim is a major loser who will fail no matter where he ends up. Good luck Jim!” he added sarcastically.
In his first post on Substack, Acosta noted his run-ins with the president over the years, which included Trump’s attempts to get him banned from covering the White House.
“The Trump administration and its MAGA allies made it their mission in life to run me out of town on a rail. From the suspension of my White House press pass to the relentless calls for my firing on Fox News, not to mention the continuing threat environment for me and my loved ones, it was a trying time in my life,” he wrote. “But for me, there was always a greater purpose to the work.”
“At the anchor desk, I made sure my program, CNN Newsroom with Jim Acosta, devoted as much airtime as possible to reporting on Trump’s assault on our elections and the destructive aftermath of his actions,” Acosta added. “We also covered the pandemic and other major news during this period, but we remained laser-focused on the democracy beat – relentless, like a pit bull on steroids. My team and I made a clear decision: the show would not pull any punches. How could we?”
