Veteran reporter Bob Woodward has noticed a trend in today’s news media: they’re going insane over the Trump presidency. Then again, he falls short in saying that the industry has failed at doing their jobs in the Trump era. With a laser focus on the increasingly shoddy Russia collusion story, the serial errors in the reporting of this White House, and the inability to report on simple photo ops, like feeding koi fish with the Japanese prime minister--one could arguably say that the media has failed.
ABC News’ Brian Ross totally botched dates in his report about former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn being ordered to make contact with the Russians. The news network reported that it had occurred while Donald Trump was a candidate when in fact; it was after he had won the election and this was a run-of-the-mill diplomatic groundwork exercise that occurs with any incoming administration. The report tanked the markets and it took ABC News several hours to correct—and people say Trump’s Twitter account is irresponsible.
Woodward reiterated to Newsweek how the Trump White House has caused some journalists to become “emotionally unhinged” (via Free Beacon):
You’ve described the Trump presidency as being a "test" for the news media. Do you think the media is failing the test?" asked Newsweek.
The former Washington Post reporter—now an associate editor—responded journalists could always do better, including himself, but that he thought the media had not "failed" to date.
"But we have a lot of work to do," he continued. "A number of reporters have at times become emotionally unhinged about it all, one way or the other."
In January Woodward also criticized the news media for having a self-righteous and smug tone when covering the president. He’s not wrong.