Why Isn’t the New York Observer Covering Trump?

Donald Trump‘s clunky, absurd, and arguably racist birther claims and attention-begging presidential run is the sort of story that the New York Observer is known to cover with relish. But, as John Cook at Gawker and Ben Smith at Politico began tweeting earlier this week, the paper has been silent on the subject.

Maybe this has something to do with the small fact that the Observer is currently owned by Jared Kushner, who is married to Trump’s daughter Ivanka.

Observer editor Elizabeth Spiers tweeted back: “Guys, we are covering it! (Which you’d know if you actually called me—or asked).” While we wait for the piece, Cook speculates about the tricky situation Spiers is in. Trump, as everyone knows right now, has incredibly thin skin when it comes to his coverage in the press.

There’s not an easy answer to the question of how your newspaper should appropriately cover your boss’ loathsome father-in-law… But the current strategy, with Trump sort of loitering around the edge of the Observer‘s coverage—and frequently without a disclosure of his relationship to Kushner—while he’s in the middle of what certainly looks like another swindle, feels awkward for everyone.

Update: the Observer does feature an interview Trump gave on Talk1300 today, though once again it fails to offer any opinion on Trump’s antics, and only lays them out. In the interview, Trump says, “I’ve always had a great relationship with the blacks,” and — as proof? — there’s a picture of him posing with Snoop at his Comedy Central roast.

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