on twitter tuesday morning, president-elect donald j. trump was the media-bashing firebrand many of his supporters adore, denouncing the new york times as a <u+201c>failing<u+201d> institution that covered him inaccurately <u+2014> <u+201c>and with a nasty tone!<u+201d> eight hours later, after a lunchtime interview with editors and reporters for the times <u+2014> one that was briefly canceled, after mr. trump quarreled over the ground rules, then restored <u+2014> the mood of the president-elect, it seemed, had mellowed. <u+201c>the times is a great, great american jewel,<u+201d> mr. trump declared as he prepared to leave the gathering in the newspaper<u+2019>s 16th-floor boardroom, where portraits of former presidents adorn the walls. <u+201c>a world jewel,<u+201d> added mr. trump, who was seated next to arthur sulzberger jr., the paper<u+2019>s publisher. <u+201c>and i hope we can all get along.<u+201d> in an extraordinary 75-minute meeting <u+2014> parrying, debating and, at times, joking with the leaders of a publication that has long been an object of mr. trump<u+2019>s fascination and frustration <u+2014> the president-elect<u+2019>s chameleonlike approach to the news media was on full display. mr. trump is inclined to label himself aggrieved and betrayed by a <u+201c>dishonest<u+201d> news media, barring some reporters from his rallies and claiming that news outlets were trying to rig the election. only a day earlier, mr. trump assailed the nation<u+2019>s most prominent television news anchors and producers in a tense meeting at trump tower . but the president-elect who arrived at the times on tuesday was more solicitous and measured, a handshaking businessman intent on finding common ground. he dismissed his earlier talk of strengthening libel laws, telling the assembled journalists, <u+201c>i think you<u+2019>ll be o.k.<u+201d> he expressed interest in improving his relationship with the paper, saying, <u+201c>i think it would make the job i am doing much easier.<u+201d> <u+201c>to me,<u+201d> mr. trump said at one point, <u+201c>it would be a great achievement if i could come back here in a year or two, and have a lot of folks here say, <u+2018>you<u+2019>ve done a great job.<u+2019><u+201d> since his younger days as a manhattan arriviste, mr. trump has cultivated a talent for both courting and condemning the press <u+2014> sometimes in the same breath. the gossip columnist liz smith recalled mr. trump once threatening to buy her newspaper <u+2014> <u+201c>in order to have the pleasure of firing me<u+201d> <u+2014> before warmly inviting her to his wedding. it was clear on tuesday, however, that any new conciliatory approach toward the news media would have its limits. <u+201c>i think i<u+2019>ve been treated very rough,<u+201d> mr. trump said, as he spent the first several minutes of the session criticizing the times<u+2019>s coverage. <u+201c>i<u+2019>ve been treated extremely unfairly, in a sense, in a true sense.<u+201d> <u+201c>i will say the times is about the roughest of all,<u+201d> mr. trump said. then, referring to his relationship with the paper, he added: <u+201c>i would like to turn it around. i think it would make the job i am doing much easier.<u+201d> the president-elect had sounded less gracious tuesday morning when he abruptly called off his meeting at the times in a twitter post, contending that the paper had changed its terms for how the conversation could be reported. a times spokeswoman, eileen murphy, said the paper had made no such changes, and said that mr. trump<u+2019>s team requested on monday that the meeting be off the record <u+2014> a request the times declined. three people with knowledge of mr. trump<u+2019>s deliberations said that reince priebus, the incoming white house chief of staff, had tried to scuttle the meeting at the times by telling mr. trump, erroneously, that the newspaper was shifting its terms. mr. priebus had been among those urging the president-elect to cancel his interview because he could face questions he might not be prepared to answer, these people said. (a spokesman for mr. trump declined to comment on mr. priebus<u+2019>s role.) by midmorning, the meeting was back on, with both sides confirming that mr. trump and members of his staff would attend. the meeting coincided with the paper<u+2019>s annual state of the times address; as the publisher and top executives presented the company<u+2019>s strategy, secret service agents patrolled the times<u+2019>s lobby, which filled with people, including a throng of photographers, in anticipation of mr. trump<u+2019>s arrival. before the lunch, mr. trump met privately for about 15 minutes with mr. sulzberger, a meeting that ms. murphy described as short and cordial. at lunch <u+2014> where salmon, beef tenderloin and squash were on the menu, although the president-elect and many of the journalists did not eat <u+2014> mr. trump seemed unconcerned about criticism of breitbart news, the hard-line conservative website that embraced his candidacy and whose former chairman, stephen k. bannon, is now his chief strategist. breitbart, which features articles about violent migrants in europe, has warned of a wave of <u+201c>black-on-black crime,<u+201d> and has been denounced as racist, anti-semitic and xenophobic. mr. trump called it <u+201c>just a newspaper, essentially.<u+201d> pressed about the concerns of african-americans, jewish groups and others about breitbart<u+2019>s coverage under mr. bannon, mr. trump seemed to sidestep the question. <u+201c>breitbart really is a news organization that has become quite successful,<u+201d> mr. trump said. <u+201c>it<u+2019>s got readers, and it does cover subjects on the right, but it covers subjects on the left also. it<u+2019>s a pretty big thing.<u+201d> the final question of the lunch carried implications for every news outlet that plans to cover the administration of a man who has boasted that he would change laws to make it easier for americans to sue for libel: is a president trump committed to the first amendment? <u+201c>oh, i was hoping he wasn<u+2019>t going to ask that,<u+201d> mr. trump replied with a smile. <u+201c>actually,<u+201d> the president-elect added, <u+201c>somebody said to me on that, they said, <u+2018>you know, it<u+2019>s a great idea softening up those laws, but you may get sued a lot more.<u+2019> i said, <u+2018>you know, you<u+2019>re right, i never thought of that.<u+2019><u+201d> <u+201c>i think you<u+2019>ll be o.k.,<u+201d> mr. trump added, suggesting that he would not modify libel laws, although he did not offer a definitive stance one way or the other. by tuesday evening, mr. trump had not yet posted on twitter his opinion of how things went at the times. but during the lunch, he made a confession: he remains a regular reader. <u+201c>i do read it <u+2014> unfortunately,<u+201d> the president-elect said. <u+201c>i<u+2019>d live about 20 years longer if i didn<u+2019>t.<u+201d> maggie haberman contributed reporting. a version of this article appears in print on november 23, 2016, on page a15 of the new york edition with the headline: less defiant trump at the times: <u+2018>i hope we can all get along<u+2019>. order reprints | today's paper | subscribe
less defiant trump at the times: <u+2018>i hope we can all get along<u+2019>
michael m. grynbaum sydney ember