New York Times executive editor Dean Baquet condemned cable news coverage of the 2016 presidential election for mixing “entertainment and news” in an interview published Friday.
Speaking to the Financial Times, Baquet described CNN and Fox News’ approaches to election coverage as “bad for democracy and those institutions.”
Their “mix of entertainment and news, and news masquerading as entertainment” would be “kind of funny,” Baquet said, if not for Donald Trump’s candidacy, which he described as a product of the combination.
Baquet was unsparing in his criticism of both networks, calling CNN’s decision to hire ousted Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski as a paid commentator “outrageous” and slamming Lewandowski as “a political shill.”
He was equally critical of Fox News, which he said “is not a journalistic institution.”
While Baquet praised Fox News hosts Megyn Kelly and Chris Wallace as “great” journalists, he didn’t miss the chance to take a jab at former Fox boss Roger Ailes, who resigned amid mounting allegations of sexual harassment.
“I don’t think Roger Ailes will go down as one of the great journalists of his time,” Baquet said.
He went on to note the difficulty of covering Trump’s unconventional presidential campaign.
“We are used to warring philosophies, but this is different. This is a guy who makes stuff up,” Baquet said. “I am not opposed to his presidency, that is not my job. But my job is not to beat around the bush when a candidate lies.”
Fox News declined to comment and CNN did not return a message from the Financial Times seeking comment.
This needed to be said. And should be repeated over and over and over again.
Another two great minds moment. This is the man who said he’d risk going to jail for releasing trump tax information the Times received a few months ago from anonymous, and he’s why trumpet wants tough libel laws.
@itsjibba Exactly, right on and fuckin’ A. We’re all a little stupider for paying as much attention as we do to half-hour programming consisting of 23-minutes of “news”, and don’t get me started about the Sunday morning gas bag fests.
Although the Times has its good moments, it’s far from blame-free. But baby steps.
(And yes, even a newspaper editor should have some standards for opposing a candidacy.)
I have mixed reactions to Mr. Baquet’s comments. First, I do agree that CNN’s and FOX’s coverage of this campaign has been bad for America. True, FOX is absolutely not a journalistic institution, but Baquet’s praise of Megyn Kelly and Chris Wallace as “great journalists” is hyperbole … at best. Additionally, the NYT is not without its own issues with regards to its very mixed coverage of Hillary Clinton and anything Clinton. NYT has been very sensationalist and spreading a bunch of unsubstantiated lies about the Clintons over the years – and as recently as this year, so your own hands need a good washing, Mr. Baquet. Thank you.
I would say this should shame both CNN and Fox, but Fox has never had any shame and CNN lost it’s when it started chasing White Broncos 24/7