On Tuesday, in a shocking moment (albeit only a moment), a CBS host broke with the typical monolithic anti-Trump coverage of the television networks and major newspapers and questioned the executive editor of The New York Times about the paper’s alleged anti-Trump bias.
Discussing the new documentary series “The Fourth Estate,” which revolves around The New York Times’ coverage of President Trump during the first year of his presidency, CBS This Morning host John Dickerson asked Times executive editor Dean Baquet, “Won’t people watching this think this confirms every feeling I have about The New York Times being biased about this president?”
Dickerson began by asking Baquet, “Why did you let cameras into The New York Times?”
Baquet responded, “Because I thought if people got a glimpse inside a newsroom, a modern newsroom, they would understand that we’re human beings, that we have a mission, that we make mistakes. But that we work extremely hard, that we’re not biased. I thought that the days when we would not allow people to see that process should be over. I thought it would help us.”
Dickerson responded, “I want to get to the idea of human beings in a second. But as you both know, any good story starts with a strong lead. This series opens up on inauguration day, it’s a cloudy day. But it opens up with clouds over the White House and the editor staring at the screen as if they’re watching a funeral. Won’t people watching this think, ‘this confirms every feeling I have about The New York Times being biased about this president?’”
Baquet, deflecting, still betrayed his anti-Trump sentiment by calling President trump’s inaugural speech “grim”:
Except right after that scene, as I recall — and it was unrehearsed — I sort of break into a grin and just acknowledge how big a story it is. I mean, I really don’t think so. I really don’t think so. First off it was a grim inaugural speech. It was meant to be grim. It’s hard not to have had a grim reaction.
H/T Newsbusters