海角大神

Dear reader,

In the rough and tumble of political journalism, respect can be a casualty. And so it was Feb. 25 in India, when President Donald Trump and CNN鈥檚 Jim Acosta clashed at a press conference.

Mr. Acosta had聽, in response to criticism, that his network was better at 鈥渄elivering the truth鈥� than the president. Later that day Chris Wallace, host of Fox News Sunday, said he was 鈥渉orrified鈥� by the CNN correspondent鈥檚 behavior.

鈥淚t鈥檚 not our job to get in fights with the president,鈥� Mr. Wallace said at an event at Columbia University鈥檚 Graduate School of Journalism in New York. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not our job to one-up presidents.鈥�

The other panelist on stage, New York Times White House correspondent Maggie Haberman, agreed.

It was a 鈥渃ommon ground鈥� moment at the event, sponsored by an organization devoted to bringing 鈥渓ight, not heat鈥� to public discourse, the聽.

I was delighted to moderate the Feb. 25 panel, titled 鈥淔inding Common Ground on Facts, Fake News, and the Media.鈥� Mr. Wallace and Ms. Haberman are two of the best in the business. But I didn鈥檛 imagine there would be much conflict to resolve. After all, they鈥檙e both news reporters, not partisans.

I soon learned that, in the public sphere, they are often associated with the political leanings of their outlets鈥� opinion departments 鈥� liberal at the Times and, at Fox, not just conservative but sometimes closely linked to President Trump.

Indeed, Mr. Wallace said that he鈥檚 often called upon to answer for Fox鈥檚 prime-time lineup (Sean Hannity et al.) 鈥� more so, he surmised, than Ms. Haberman is with regard to the Times鈥� opinion pages. She agreed.

Mr. Wallace spoke of a 鈥渇irewall鈥� between news and opinion at Fox. Still, I pointed out, the two do clash at times. News anchor Shepard Smith crossed swords with Mr. Hannity, and eventually resigned. Mr. Wallace himself recently told conservative Fox contributor Katie Pavlich, on the air, to 鈥済et her facts straight.鈥�

鈥淭hat wasn鈥檛 my best moment,鈥� Mr. Wallace acknowledged. But he also made clear that his 鈥渕arching orders鈥� from Fox News are to 鈥渢ell it straight, not to push an agenda, not to pull punches.鈥�

On the fundamentals of news reporting, the two panelists agree. There鈥檚 also no doubt that covering the norm-breaking Trump presidency comes with unique challenges 鈥� including how to deal with Twitter.

On that, Ms. Haberman and Mr. Wallace part ways. She鈥檚 an avid tweeter. He doesn鈥檛 even have an account. But they鈥檝e each been attacked by Mr. Trump on Twitter, and have each responded. Ms. Haberman says she regrets it every time. Mr. Wallace, in contrast, recounted a response to the president he rather liked.

鈥淥ne of us has daddy issues, and it鈥檚 not me,鈥� he said, an allusion to his late father, the legendary Mike Wallace of CBS鈥檚 鈥�60 Minutes.鈥�

I encourage you to watch the event video, found聽. Audience questions were excellent, including many from journalism students.