CNBC editor-at-large John Harwood was criticized Sunday after claiming that journalists have a hard time because the Republican Party is “fundamentally broken” but it’s difficult for mainstream media to report on it.
Harwood was responding to a tweet from CNN’s far-left media reporter Brian Stelter, who quoted Washington Post media columnist Margaret Sullivan.
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"In an unceasing effort to be seen as neutral, journalists, time after time, fell into the trap of presenting facts and lies as roughly equivalent and then blaming political tribalism for not seeming to know the difference," Sullivan said, according to Stelter.
Harwood called it a “good description of the challenge for journalism” before taking a shot at the GOP.
“Hard for reporters to say plainly that the Republican Party, at this point in our history, is fundamentally broken… but it is,” Hardwood wrote.
The mainstream media is largely liberal so it raised eyebrows when Harwood essentially declared the press isn’t hard enough on Republicans.
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CNN’s pro-Trump pundit, Steve Cortes. mocked Harwood, sarcastically writing, “Our biggest flaw is that we’re so dang fair to conservatives.”
Mollie Hemingway, senior editor for The Federalist, wrote that Harwood’s tweet proves “these people have lost all touch with reality.”
CNBC’s John Harwood thinks the GOP is “fundamentally broken” and reporters have a tough time saying it.
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Media Research Center vice president Dan Gainor responded with a tweet: “Actually, it's #journalism that is fundamentally broken. Trump just helped pull back the curtain.”
Brit Hume, Fox News’ senior political analyst, said Harwood’s tweet is “precisely what reporters should not be doing,” and it’s not their job to decide whether or not a party is broken.
Harwood was famously slammed by the Republican National Committee back in 2015 for his performance moderating CNBC’s GOP debate.
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz said during the debate that the questions posed “illustrate why the American people don't trust the media” and urged moderators to ask about substantive issues people actually care about. The Washington Post even published a roundup of debate critics on both sides of the aisle.
Many followers also responded to Hardwood’s tweet with backlash: