In attempting to trump the president, media elite write their own obituary

--We live in strange times when The New York Times feels the need to warn its reporters -- who are supposed to be objective -- not to express opinions in tweets because, in the first year of the administration, there was so much of that going on.

--We live in strange times when national columnists feel comfortable telling people not just to vote in the midterm elections -- but to vote for any and all Democrats.

--We live in strange times when The New York Times op-ed page does something rarely done in the business: run an anonymous op-ed eviscerating the White House. This practice was criticized by famed journalist Bob Woodward, who is hardly a defender of the administration. The Times says that its editors are satisfied that the author is trustworthy and "the senior administration official" is well-placed enough to have first-hand information. But how are readers to reach their own conclusions about those things if the writer is anonymous?

--We live in strange times when a former producer at NBC News accuses the network of killing a story on disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein written by Ronan Farrow for reasons that had nothing to do with journalism. Farrow took the story to The New Yorker, and later won the Pulitzer Prize.

--We live in strange times when CNN won't retract a story about what former Trump attorney Michael Cohen may have said about that infamous meeting between Donald Trump Jr. and a Russian attorney at Trump Tower even after its source -- Democratic lawyer Lanny Davis -- admitted he lied to the network.

--And we live in strange times when NBC's Chuck Todd, in an essay for The Atlantic, issues an extraordinary call to arms and urges colleagues to combat "the campaign to destroy the legitimacy of the American news media." Todd thinks the journalistic creed -- "Don't engage" -- is outdated, and he suggests a better course of action is to "showcase and defend our reporting."

Actually, Chuck, I think the media has done enough showcasing -- of our work, and ourselves. That's part of why we're on the defensive.

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Ruben Navarrette's email address is ruben@rubennavarrette.com. His daily podcast, "Navarrette Nation," is available through every podcast app.