Dean Baquet, the executive editor of The New York Times, has blamed President Donald Trump's incendiary commentary for endangering his journalists, in an interview published to day by The Guardian. Baquet explicitly criticised the President's remarks about White House correspondent Maggie Haberman, describing them as "appalling" and accusing him of putting her in harm's way.

“I think his personal attacks on reporters, including Maggie, are pretty awful and pretty unpresidential,” he said. “I think personal attacks on journalists, when he calls them names, I think he puts their lives at risk.

“I think that when he actually calls reporters names, says they’re un-American, says they’re enemies of the people... that phrase has a deep history. I think when he says that, it is an appalling attack on the press.”

These comments are presumed to be in response – at least partially – to a series of tweets the President launched last April, taunting Haberman as a "Crooked H flunkie" and accusing her of lying and making up stories. She was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting last year for her coverage of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and the Russian ties to the Trump campaign.

Earlier this month, Haberman participated in a Reddit Q&A that was published in the New York Times and admitted that, while the American President has accelerated the effects of partisanship, the fire was burning long before his inauguration.

"The roots of the current partisan moment go back to the 1990s," Haberman pointed out. "Since then, there has been an election settled at the Supreme Court, a terrorist attack that killed more than 3,000 people, a lengthy war overseas, and a fiscal crisis. All of that has eroded trust in institutions. So has the proliferation of partisan media, allowing readers to choose the news they want to hear. President Trump has poured accelerant on it, but this has been a while in the making."

A.G. Sulzberger, publisher of The New York Times, has also articulated his growing concerns about the erosion of press freedoms in America.

"We’ve long taken comfort in knowing that in addition to all our own preparations and all our own safeguards, there has always been another, critical safety net: the United States government, the world’s greatest champion of the free press," he said in a speech at Brown University in September that was later published in the Times Opinion section.

"Over the last few years, however, something has dramatically changed. Around the globe, a relentless campaign is targeting journalists because of the fundamental role they play in ensuring a free and informed society. To stop journalists from exposing uncomfortable truths and holding power to account, a growing number of governments have engaged in overt, sometimes violent, efforts to discredit their work and intimidate them into silence."

He continued to explain how in 2017, The New York Times had to ask the Irish government to assist in extracting one of their journalists from Egypt when they feared the Trump administration wouldn't help.

After a meeting with the President last summer, Sulzberger warned that while the term "fake news" was concerning, it was labelling journalists as "the enemy of the people" as truly problematic. "I warned [the President] that this inflammatory language is contributing to a rise in threats against journalists and will lead to violence," the publisher said in a statement about the meeting.

"This is a perilous moment for journalism, for free expression and for an informed public," warned Sulzberger. "But the moments and places where it is most difficult and dangerous to be a journalist are the moments and places where journalism is needed most."

For fellow young American journalists who fear the worst, Theodore Kim, Director of Fellowships and Internships for the New York Times offers the following advice: "I know journalism careers can seem daunting and uncertain these days. But your tenacious spirit, your curiosity and your desire to bear witness amaze and inspire me. Keep at it. The world needs you now more than ever."

After all, that's how Maggie Haberman got her Pulitzer.

Budding Journalists: I know journalism careers can seem daunting and uncertain these days. But your tenacious spirit, your curiosity and your desire to bear witness amaze and inspire me. Keep at it. The world needs you now more than ever.

— Theodore Kim (@TheoTypes) November 15, 2019