The answer, more and more is seeming to be - absolutely! They are all part of the conspiracy to make the world friendlier to dictatorships of the oligarchs and to destroy the power of liberal democracies.

“If we are to use the term ‘lie’ in our reporting, then we have to be confident about the subject’s state of knowledge and his moral intent,” Baker
explained of his approach.

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/sep/10/the-wall-street-journals-trump-problem

I don't know Murdoch owned Baker's intent in hanging with Deripaska.

But I can guess.

Baker should be worried about more than just bad optics.