“He’s the president of the United States,” Mr. Baker continued. “What he does, for good or bad, is the most central part of our coverage of the government.”

Ms. Haberman added: “That’s the definition of bias: If we decided not to cover the president of the United States.”

(Ms. Haberman, usually prolific on Twitter, is in the middle of a weeklong hiatus from the platform. “It’s a cleanse,” she said. “I’m doing the Twitter juice diet.”)

4. When it comes to anonymous sources, transparency with readers is paramount.

Anonymous sourcing has been a key component to The Times’s coverage of the Trump administration, which has been plagued by a steady flow of internal leaks.

But, as one audience member noted, readers often feel ambivalent about articles that use anonymous sources — especially readers who are not familiar with The Times’s guidelines for the practice.

“First of all: We try not to use anonymous sources,” Mr. Baquet said. “And I feel very strongly that anonymous sources should not be able to have quotations,” and should only state facts, he said.

For the most consequential White House stories, Mr. Baquet himself has to approve the use of anonymous sources. “And when we do more routine anonymous source stories, whether it’s from the White House or not,” he explained, “senior editors have to know the names of sources, and the circumstances.”