New York Times White House reporter Maggie Haberman—who came under fire over the weekend for her article about Hope Hicks’ apparent dilemma about complying with a congressional subpoena—acknowledged the criticism Wednesday, saying it’s “unfortunate” that “the tenor” of critiques against her “has gotten extremely personal.”
During an appearance on CNN’s New Day, co-host John Berman brought up a New York magazine article on the controversy by Jonathan Chait, who read out and condemned many of the criticisms of Haberman from the left, including that the reporter “habitually regurgitates administration propaganda” and that “progressive loathing of Haberman” comes from “the mistaken belief that straight news reporters should stand up to the president and call him out for his unfitness to hold office.”
On Wednesday, Berman asked: “I just want to know if you have a response to that, or do you want to reflect on the difficulty of reporting in this hyper-attuned age?”
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Haberman said: “I don’t like when we become the story. It is never comfortable when we become the story.”
“There was a particular story in question over the weekend that a lot of people had an issue with,” she continued. “Primarily—but not only about—a photo that was chosen, and the Times addressed that reporters do not choose their own photos.”
“I always regret when any story becomes this much of a controversy if it’s not about the merits of the reporting,” added Haberman. “We are not above criticism, and we deserve it and we hear it. I think the tenor has gotten extremely personal. I think that’s unfortunate.”
For its part, the Times on Tuesday stood by Haberman and her reporting, calling it “rigorous.”
And CNN’s Berman did the same, telling Haberman: “You’re a national treasure, and I think we depend on you for your reporting.”
