WSJ editor Baker admonishes reporters over Trump coverage

Gerard Baker

Wall Street Journal editor Gerard Baker was critical of the paper’s coverage of President Donald Trump’s rally in Arizona, reports Michael Grynbaum of the New York Times.

Grynbaum reports, “Some staff members expressed similar concerns on Wednesday after Mr. Baker, in a series of blunt late-night emails, criticized his staff over their coverage of Mr. Trump’s Tuesday rally in Phoenix, describing their reporting as overly opinionated.

“‘Sorry. This is commentary dressed up as news reporting,’ Mr. Baker wrote at 12:01 a.m. on Wednesday morning 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?’

“A copy of Mr. Baker’s emails was reviewed by The New York Times.”

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Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.