‘Commentary dressed up as reporting’: Wall Street Journal’s editor blasts staff for Trump coverage in leaked emails

Since the election, some journalists at the Wall Street Journal have expressed frustration with what they say is overly cautious and deferential reporting on Donald Trump

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US President Donald Trump complains about media coverage as he addresses the crowd at a campaign rally in Phoenix, Arizona. Photo: EPA

Published: 7:38pm, 24 Aug 2017Updated: 7:11am, 25 Aug 2017

The Wall Street Journal’s top editor once again appears to be facing discord from within his newsroom over the newspaper’s coverage of US President Donald Trump.

Since the election, some journalists at the Wall Street Journal have expressed frustration with what they say is overly cautious and deferential reporting on Trump, at a time when competitors are aggressively scrutinising the president.

The most recent sign of discontent emerged Wednesday, in a series of emails leaked to the New York Times, along with the draft of a story critiqued by the editor in the emails. While internal emails and memos routinely leak from news organisations, story drafts do not.

According to the Times, Gerard Baker, the editor in chief of the Wall Street Journal, emailed a group of reporters and editors regarding the draft of a Journal article covering Trump’s rally in Phoenix. In his midnight message, Baker asked his staff to tone down language in the story that he characterised as opinionated.

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“Sorry. This is commentary dressed up as news reporting,” Baker wrote in one email, according to the Times.