Gerard Baker, the head of the Wall Street Journal newsroom, is a disgrace, and I’m sorry that the story that he fellated Trump for an hour, then called it an interview, then forbade his “newspaper” to release the interview, isn’t getting more attention.
Given the criticisms that Editor in Chief Gerard Baker has faced for his paper’s coverage, and at a time when media transparency is more important than ever, the Journal’s decision to release only excerpts from the interview comes off as aloof. Why its editors made that decision is perhaps less surprising upon reading the full transcript, in which Baker talks with Ivanka Trump about parties in the Hamptons and spends part of his time in the Oval Office discussing, with Trump, Jordan Spieth’s final round at the British Open.
The paper is seen by many in the business as Trump-sympathetic during the campaign, more neutral since but clearly lagging behind competitors these days in breaking impactful stories. This won’t really help its image, at least in the media echo chamber, especially since Baker dominated the session and did so in solicitous fashion toward Trump.
He didn’t press him as he wandered or got facts wrong. He engaged in a mutually flattering back-and-forth with Ivanka Trump when she surfaced (as is her habit when dad is being interviewed) and mentioned seeing Baker at a party in the Hamptons.
Soon enough, the baby Hitler fantasies will be replaced by baby Rupert Murdoch fantasies.
Big disgrace, somebody better put you back into your placePost + Comments (191)