NYT columnist: Reporters miss important stories because they’re obsessed with Trump

New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof warned journalists of their own addiction to covering President Trump, saying they are missing important stories happening in American communities. 

Kristof acknowledged to CNN’s “Reliable Sources” host Brian Stelter on Sunday that they’re all addicted to Trump.

“My wife and I — sometimes our pillow talk is about Trump,” Kristof said. “But I do think we have to acknowledge that there’s so much more happening in the world than Donald Trump.”

{mosads} Kristof was on the media show to discuss his column from earlier this month entitled “Our Addiction to Trump.”

Journalists are “all Trump, all the time,” he noted Sunday.

“The upshot is that we risk not covering a lot of really important things at home and around the world,” Kristof said.

Members of the media complain that Trump isn’t paying attention to the world and “that’s absolutely right but that can also be said about us,” Kristof added. 

Stelter noted that the American press is often criticized for being too centered around politics and Washington.

“That’s even more true now because Trump sucks up all the oxygen,” Stelter said.

Kristof said the traditional journalism business model was collapsing in the digital age.

“And then along came Trump and he’s a bit of a solution to our business models as long as we have cameras focused on him, then audiences will follow,” the columnist said.

Trump often spars with The New York Times and CNN, calling them both “fake news.”

Last week, Trump threatened to take away new networks’ press credentials over “negative” coverage.

“The Fake News is working overtime. Just reported that, despite the tremendous success we are having with the economy & all things else, 91% of the Network News about me is negative (Fake),” Trump wrote on Twitter. “Why do we work so hard in working with the media when it is corrupt? Take away credentials?”

The Fake News is working overtime. Just reported that, despite the tremendous success we are having with the economy & all things else, 91% of the Network News about me is negative (Fake). Why do we work so hard in working with the media when it is corrupt? Take away credentials?

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 9, 2018

Kristof’s colleague at the Times, Maggie Haberman, said the president’s remarks were “just so stupid” and that Trump loves the media’s addiction to him.

“First of all, if cameras weren’t allowed into the White House, the person who would be saddest is Donald Trump,” she said, adding that “there is nothing he loves more than media attention.”