Wall Street Journal's editor to face newsroom critics over 'soft' coverage of Trump

The Wall Street Journal's editor has confirmed he will face the critics within his own newsroom after appearing to go soft on US President Donald Trump.

According to sources at Politico, several journalists at the right-leaning paper have grown concerned of Gerard Baker's stance on Trump, after he stepped in on stories that appeared to be critical of the president.

Though the motivation for the meeting is unclear, Baker emailed his staff on Wednesday (8 February) to announce discussion about the state of the Journal's coverage.

One particular example that riled staff involved an email from Baker suggesting that Journal journalists should refrain from saying "seven majority Muslim countries" with regards to the ongoing travel ban, instructing them instead to say, "seven countries the US has designated as being states that pose significant or elevated risks of terrorism".

"For the Editor In Chief of a major American paper to go out of his way to whitewash this is unconscionable," a journalist told Politico.

He added that Baker's directive caused "quite the ruckus among reporters and editors, many of whom were already concerned about the newspaper's coverage of Trump dating back to the campaign.

"It seems we are bending over backwards to avoid calling his policies what they are and are being asked to uncritically parrot White House statements."

The row takes places as The New York Times and The Washington Post have both increased the numbers of reporters covering the White House and have been critical of the new administration.

In comparison, staff at the Journal have said there was a growing disillusionment of the paper's reporting, which began during the presidential campaign.

Baker joined the Rupert Murdoch-owned publication in 2009 after spending five years with the media mogul's The Times operation in London. Both companies operate under the News Corp banner.

Despite starting off his university years as a self-labelled left-winger, Baker has since shifted to the right and media critic David Carr of the New York Times described him as a "neoconservative".

The meeting between Baker and staff will take place on Monday (13 February).