Carl Bernstein Calls Op-Ed Author ‘Craven’ But NYT ‘Absolutely Right’ to Publish It: This Is ‘A National Emergency’
Legendary reporter and author Carl Bernstein was on Reliable Sources on Sunday and spoke with host Brian Stelter about the anonymous New York Times op-ed and Bob Woodward‘s book “Fear: Trump in the White House”. Berstein said the concerns are real, and very serious.
Stelter asked Bernstein about the ethics.
“There’s a lot of critics out there saying the Times should not have given this person anonymity, not for any number of page views,” said Stelter. “What do you think?”
“I think it’s a legitimate article to publish anonymously,” he said. “And at the same time I think that there is something craven about the author not coming forward.”
“This is different than the case of deep throat,” said Berstein, pointing out that their source then was someone they had to seek out and obtain info from, but that in this case it’s a person on the inside who came to the press with an editorial.
“I think it’s absolutely right that the New York Times published it, but I would hope that this individual would come forward in the national interest and give himself more credibility and what he has to say by identifying himself, or herself, and letting us know,” he said, “and then becoming part of the open debate about the Donald Trump presidency as reported in Bob Woodward’s book.”
Berstein said the the book and the op-ed together create a picture and that is “extraordinary.”
“The two follow parallel tracks in which those closest to the president are saying he cannot be trusted with the national security of the United States,” he said. “We’ve never had this in our history.”
He explained it was different from Nixon.
“From the first days of a presidency, a president of the United States who those working with him consider him a danger to the national security of the United States, this is really extraordinary,” he said. “And a national emergency.”
Watch the clip above, courtesy of CNN.
[Featured image via screengrab]
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