Michael Grynbaum

On Twitter, President Trump deployed the phrase “fake news” 273 times in 2019 — 50 percent more often than he did in 2018. He demanded “retribution” over a “Saturday Night Live” sketch, declared that Washington Post reporters “shouldn’t even be allowed on the grounds of the White House,” and accused The New York Times of “Treason.” Four American journalists were barred from covering the president’s dinner with the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un. The administration argued in court that it had the right to ban a reporter from the White House. The daily White House briefing ceased to exist.

“Fox News is Trump’s Walter Cronkite,” said Anthony Scaramucci, who served briefly as Mr. Trump’s White House communications director — and has recently become a vocal critic. “Once he loses the majority of them, it’s over. He knows it, which is why he is bashing and intimidating them.”

Even by his standards, President Trump’s biting attacks on the press this week stand out.

President Donald Trump takes credit for popularizing the term “fake news.” But the consequences? Not his concern. In lengthy and at times contradictory remarks about the news media — which he deemed “important” and “beautiful,” but also “so bad” and “unfair” — President Trump called himself “a victim” of unfair coverage and declined to accept responsibility for a rise in threats against journalists since he took office. “I do notice that people are declaring more and more fake news, where they go, ‘Fake news!’” the President said. “I even see it in other countries.

As Americans brace for the next presidential campaign — already underway and showing on a screen near you — press pundits are worried about the news media’s readiness for the challenge ahead. Will reporters follow the same assumptions that made the outcome in 2016 such a shock? Can pollsters reassure a public that has soured on the power of political forecasting?

Television viewers on New Year’s Eve tune in for performances by the latest hitmakers and nostalgia acts. This time around, 11 journalists — ranging from familiar faces like Martha Raddatz of ABC to behind-the-scenes editors like Karen Toulon of Bloomberg News — shared the Times Square limelight, part of an effort by the Committee to Protect Journalists and organizers to recognize the erosion of press freedoms at home and abroad.

President Donald Trump suggested he could pull press credentials from other reporters who don't show him "respect." The comments come two days after the president suspended the press pass of CNN chief White House correspondent Jim Acosta after a contentious exchange during a news conference. "I think Jim Acosta is a very unprofessional man," President Trump said. Asked how long Acosta's credentials will be suspended, the president replied: "As far as I'm concerned, I haven't made that decision.

In the back of a fairground auditorium in Tampa, as President Donald Trump presided over a rally dedicated to denigrating his enemies, the journalists dispatched to cover the proceedings attracted their own raucous crowd. Several journalists described an atmosphere of hostility that felt particularly hard-edge.

The White House barred CNN Journalist Kaitlan Collins from attending a public appearance by President Donald Trump in the Rose Garden, an apparent act of retaliation that drew immediate rebuke from news organizations and signaled the latest escalation of Trump’s hostilities toward the news media. Collins said she was called into the West Wing and chastised by administration officials for what they deemed “inappropriate” questions that she had asked of President Trump during an Oval Office photo opportunity. The officials — Bill Shine, the newly appointed deputy chief of staff, and Sarah Huc

An unusual show of solidarity between rival journalists seemed to signal a new approach by the White House press corps toward an administration that regularly uses briefings to deride, and divide, the news media.