Wall Street Journal Editor Admonishes Reporters Over Trump Coverage

Gerard Baker, the editor in chief of The Wall Street Journal, has faced unease and frustration in his newsroom over his stewardship of the newspaper’s coverage of President Donald Trump, which some journalists there say has lacked toughness and verve. Some staff members expressed similar concerns on Aug 23 after Baker, in a series of blunt late-night e-mails, criticized his staff over their coverage of President Trump’s rally in Phoenix, describing their reporting as overly opinionated.

“Sorry. This is commentary dressed up as news reporting,” Baker wrote at 12:01 a.m. on Aug 23 to a group of Journal reporters and editors, in response to a draft of the rally article that was intended for the newspaper’s final edition. He added in a follow-up, “Could we please just stick to reporting what he said rather than packaging it in exegesis and selective criticism?” Several phrases about President Trump that appeared in the draft of the article reviewed by Baker were not included in the final version published on The Journal’s website.