President Donald Trump broke tradition by not attending April’s White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, but reporters at the event were treated to a rare appearance by both Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein — which the New York Post described “like a Simon and Garfunkel reunion.”
It seems like nearly every reporter working today hopes to be the next Woodward or Bernstein, which was made obvious last week after President Trump fired former FBI Director James Comey (his one-man “Tuesday afternoon massacre”) and included the word “tapes” (in quotation marks) in a follow-up tweet about his conversations with Comey.
Now, with the Washington Post reporting that Trump revealed highly classified information to his Russian visitors last week, it’s time to … celebrate?
Trump-intel story has broken @washingtonpost's record for most concurrently viewed story, exceeding Trump/"Access Hollywood" scoop of 10/8.
— Paul Farhi (@farhip) May 15, 2017
Hey, clicks are clicks.
Applause in the newsroom as the Russia-leak scoop breaks the Hollywood Access record for most readers per minute
— Glenn Kessler (@GlennKesslerWP) May 15, 2017
BREAKING NEWS: Trump giving secrets to the Russians beats Trump talking pussy-grabbing. ????? https://t.co/sj0DzYgdNj
— Ira Goldman ??? (@KDbyProxy) May 15, 2017
And that's the point, really. Most clicks.
— Ann Boger (@ann_boger) May 15, 2017
I hope you are kidding about applause.
— Patriot??Citizenmdg (@Clancy_Dew) May 15, 2017
Would the paper’s own fact-checker make up a story about applause?
I'd say applause is not the most appropriate reaction in this case.
— Kervalet Vista (@adaonlives) May 15, 2017
I appreciate the hardwork getting important news out there but the applause seems kind of gross considering the gravity of the situation.
— Josh K (@Ne_Desit_Virtus) May 15, 2017
https://twitter.com/MenryAZ/status/864238039215685632
Due to the seriousness of the scoop, cheering because you broke a reader record is inappropriate. What is wrong people?!
— linny marie (@linnymarie4) May 15, 2017
When you’re both “stuck in a dying medium” and reminded daily that you failed in your effort to drag your candidate across the finish line, you need a morale boost now and then.
The big story here, of course, is how the media reacts to the news Trump gave classified intel to the Russians. pic.twitter.com/3EAlUOu1UZ
— Jonah Goldberg (@JonahDispatch) May 15, 2017
https://twitter.com/CuffyMeh/status/864240052683108352
That's the important thing here. https://t.co/P2PDSNCnJc
— Stephen Miller (@redsteeze) May 15, 2017
And if you report for the Washington Post, anti-Trump clicks are the best clicks.
Are you sure the applause isn't for finding something very tangible to finally stick to Trump?
— Avery Bullard (@averybullard) May 15, 2017
The Washington Post’s David Fahrenthold didn’t manage to sink the president’s campaign, but he was awarded the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting for his extensive investigation into Trump’s charitable giving. Not to mention, his reporter’s notebook is now an artifact.
The @newseum asked to borrow the notebook I used last yr in my search for @realdonaldtrump's missing charitable giving. Just dropped it off. pic.twitter.com/8XM9jxZLVk
— David Fahrenthold (@Fahrenthold) May 15, 2017
But if today’s big scoop is the one that manages to sink Trump for real …
Sorry to say @Fahrenthold: Your record of the most people to ever be reading a story at 1 time is about to fall. cc @gregpmiller @GregJaffe
— Rosalind Helderman (@PostRoz) May 15, 2017
https://twitter.com/AaronBlake/status/864232080946933761
Fahrenthold crushed. destroyed. humiliated https://t.co/VtUcIkEcSF
— John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) May 15, 2017
Its like when Ellen lost the tweet record to the nuggets guy
— trifecta (@3fecta) May 15, 2017
https://twitter.com/Craigipedia/status/864289388510969856
* * *
Update:
The fact-checker has been fact-checked:
I've been fact-checked: Applause in the newsroom as the Russia-leak scoop breaks the Hollywood Access record for most readers per SECOND
— Glenn Kessler (@GlennKesslerWP) May 15, 2017
https://twitter.com/JammieWF/status/864261835624779777
* * *
Related:
‘Not good’: WaPo reports that Trump shared ‘highly classified info’ with Russians https://t.co/HiFHD5oI0J
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) May 15, 2017
Join the conversation as a VIP Member