Should Bob Woodward have withheld until now a February quotation from President Trump, who privately told him the coronavirus was “deadly stuff” even as he publicly minimized its severity? Could Mr. Woodward have helped save lives by releasing the information sooner?
The revelation of Mr. Trump’s characterization of the virus came Wednesday in reports about Mr. Woodward’s new book, “Rage,” due out next week, for which Mr. Trump spoke to Mr. Woodward extensively.
It prompted a larger debate around journalistic ethics, with some arguing that Mr. Woodward, a lion of American journalism, had an obligation to report Mr. Trump’s assessment sooner.
Many observers argued that the public had a right not only to the information about the deadly potential of the virus early on, but also to the fact that Mr. Trump had been told the truth by experts and yet continued to mislead Americans. An often cited example is his comments in March comparing the coronavirus favorably to the seasonal flu.
“Trump was the key vector of harmful misinformation,” Marc Ambinder, a former White House correspondent for National Journal, wrote on Twitter. “We KNOW that his supporters BELIEVE HIM and altered their behavior because they thought COVID would be less harmful then the flu … cause that’s what Trump said.”
He added, “I’m inclined to say that holding onto this is and was flat out wrong.”
The president himself weighed in — on Mr. Woodward’s side, sort of — in a tweet on Thursday.
“Bob Woodward had my quotes for many months,” the president noted. “If he thought they were so bad or dangerous, why didn’t he immediately report them in an effort to save lives? Didn’t he have an obligation to do so? No, because he knew they were good and proper answers. Calm, no panic!”
Others doubted that revealing Mr. Trump’s comments sooner would have made a difference.
“If you believe that Woodward publishing Trump’s quote in March would’ve changed anything on Coronavirus the last four years have taught you absolutely nothing,” said James Ball, the global editor of The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, on Twitter.
Mr. Woodward did not reply to requests for comment Wednesday evening.
While it is common for journalists and book authors to agree to hold back information or comments from sources until an agreed-upon date, Mr. Woodward told Margaret Sullivan, The Post’s media columnist, that there was no such deal in place.
Rather, he said, he declined to share the comment in February or March because he did not learn until May that it had come from an intelligence briefing. By then, he told The Associated Press on Wednesday, the quote’s significance pertained to politics rather than public health, and the relevant deadline was the November election.
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September 10, 2020 at 07:02PM
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Many ask if Woodward should have revealed Trump’s comments sooner, and Trump weighs in. - The New York Times
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