The new cadre of journalists was a little less focused on accuracy and a little more into likes and retweets
On a riser in the ballroom of the New York Hilton on the night when Donald Trump was first elected, a tripod jammed into the back of my leg, and I overheard a conversation between two journalists in the same section.
It was already after midnight, clear that these results were for real, and most of the people on the risers — reporters, cameramen, sound men — were in acute distress. But one woman behind me was cheerful.
“Listen,” she told a colleague, “for months now, Trump has made us the story, pointing to us and even calling us out by name. If he’s president, then we’ll be news, always. It’s the best thing that ever happened to us. Let’s roll with it.”
It’s rule number one in journalism: You are not the story. But Trump, she was arguing, had made them the story, so why not enjoy it?
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