Who was the best reporter of the Trump era?

Farenthold, for sure, although being at the WaPo is a pretty good gig.

Schmidt has long been an investigative stalwart, though not without the occasional issue.

I'm curious what happens with Olivia Nuzzi, who seemed to have an in with Giuliani.

 

Maggie Haberman. Not THE best, but certainly important.

I know, I know. But hear me out.

The right hates her, wants to do terrible things to her, because they think she's insanely biased.
The left hates her, screams for her to be fired, that she's too close to Trump because he talks to her (even while he mocks and vilifies her, causing the right to hate her more).
Centrists like me and pretty much every one I know reads her, no matter what. I almost always learn a little something from her.

Yes, she's not a stylist, but she is a dogged reporter. And people who work with her say she is always quick to give other reporters tips that maybe she can't follow or write, for whatever reason. Those of us who have worked with strong reporting teams know how valuable that is. I can't tell you how many times a beat reporter at the NYDN back in the day slipped tips to me or one of our other columnists; while we all had egos, most of us also wanted the paper to succeed and didn't always need to have a byline. Maggie is like that, which is something considering she's probably had more bylines in the Trump era than anyone.

OK fire away. I didn't comment on the Perfect Topping thread, because I figured my choice of pineapple and vegan cheese would get me banned from this site. Maybe this will, too

 

Don't forget the invaluable reporting of @RoguePOTUSstaff

 

Yeah, I'm afraid this is true. We all know there's only a small percentage of the population on Twitter, and that what is a big deal there just doesn't register with the world at large. I suspect the absorption of Trump stories fell into that very category. Anyone reading those stories already knew how bad a guy he was. I don't think anyone changed their mind about him, and anyone who needed to see what a shitshow he is sure as hell wasn't on Twitter consuming mainstream media.

 

She is an excellent access reporter. That's a valid means of reporting, but it is one that was bound to raise hackles of readers from 2016-2020, because her job involved courting access (always a series of compromises) to some of the shittiest people ever to walk the planet. Also, in the beginning, although not so much now, she had a serious case of social media rabbit ears, which of course only earned her more scornful ridicule.
PS: A lot of readers don't like access journalism at all, but it's always existed and always will. IMO, the most important reporters of the Trump era were the beat people doing stuff on the actual effects of Trump policies, like Dara Lind of Vox, now the Times, on immigration.

 

I said it in the politics thread. She’s among the best at what she does. And what she does provides news value. And I’ll leave the rest of what I said over there.

 

Kaitlan Collins

 

Kaitlan Collins was the breakout reporter of it all, at least for me, a regular CNN viewer.

 

If you're saying pineapple on pizza then yeah, piss off. Hugs.

 

In a sense, all the reporting -- as great as it was -- was just incremental confirmation of what anyone paying attention already knew, in broad strokes, about trump. I found the day-to-day, and even investigative, stuff far less crucial than the commentary; whenever some new corrupt or lunatic detail emerged, my reaction always was, 'okay, but how does this change the equation?' So for the last four years, the most important journalists -- to me, anyway -- were the center/right columnists affected by that reporting, who then had a chance to reach the only audience that matters: swing republicans. The likes of George Will, Michael Gerson, Ross Douthat, etc. seemed the key barometer to watch.

 

PBS Shields and Brooks