I read this Politico story in a state of absolute incredulity.
The [Mueller] report detailed multiple efforts by Trump and his senior aides to mislead journalists and the public, reigniting a long-running media debate about how to cover such an unprecedented presidency — and when, if ever, to accept White House denials at face value.
"Reporters have to start assuming that this White House is going to continue to lie and manipulate the media," Columbia Journalism Review editor-in-chief Kyle Pope said in an interview. Pope, who said some news organizations were too slow to challenge official White House statements, added: "The dealings with the White House have to be reframed given what we now know about them."
Only now should reporters "start assuming that this White House is going to continue to lie and manipulate the media"? Anyone with even a dram of political insight undertook that assumption beginning with Trump's descent on the Trump Tower escalator in June 2015.
It is nothing short of astounding that the editor in chief of the Columbia Journalism Review would only now encourage reporters to be skeptical of this White Houses' communications department. "Pope even questioned the value of quoting or interviewing Trump’s principal spokesperson, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders."
Breathtaking is as harsh a word I can conceive in describing the blindness of Pope's belated revelation. If there were a harsher word, I'd use it. I'm tempted to use Trump's language and call it "stupid," but I simply cannot sink that low.