NYT's Bruni Describes Negative Coverage as 'The Only Honest Way to Cover This President,' Admits Paper Has a 'Tone' Problem

Ryan Foley | January 7, 2019
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During Sunday's edition of Reliable Sources, host Brian Stelter and his panel discussed a book by former New York Times Executive Editor Jill Abramson that argues that the paper has become too anti-Trump.  New York Times columnist Frank Bruni did his best to justify the paper's negative coverage of the President: "he's a singular President, he was a singular candidate, no one has lied like him...no one has had the sort of ethical problems that he does, no one has had the areas of ignorance. To call that out accurately is to end up with a body of coverage that is unusually negative but it is absolutely appropriate to the man and the situation at hand." Stelter then asked Bruni if the Times's coverage was "negative but accurate."  After responding in the affirmative, Bruni argued that "I don't think we have been anti-Trump.  I think we have been negative and I think that's the only honest way to cover this President." However, Bruni did admit that "I think the one way we leave ourselves vulnerable is that the tone can become mocking and sneering and I don't just mean on the opinion pages, where that's not so unusual but sometimes in news coverage."

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