All of which places Mr. Swan at a sticky nexus of journalistic ethics and best practices in an era when the audience for White House reporting has never been bigger — and the judgments never harsher. Ratings and subscriptions are up, and reporters become household names, but they are often denounced as “fake news” by the right and as brown-nosers by the left.

“How do you practice insider journalism with an administration that a large share of the country is rooting for, regardless of the truth of the president’s claims, and that another large part thinks is morally repugnant?” said Ben Smith, editor in chief of BuzzFeed News (and a former employee of Mr. VandeHei’s). “That is a really hard challenge.”

For all the slings and arrows sent his way, Mr. Swan, who declined to comment for this article in the wake of last week’s dust-up, has lived his own American dream.

The son of Norman Swan, a prominent television journalist in Australia, he arrived here in 2014 after a promising career in the Canberra trenches, where among other scoops he discovered video of an Australian senator hurling the feces of a kangaroo.

On a visa for a congressional fellowship, he spent nearly a year being rejected for reporting positions until landing a job at The Hill. “I probably interviewed five or six hundred people in my life, and I just knew right away that he was going to be a great reporter,” said Bob Cusack, the editor in chief.

Sources and competitors of Mr. Swan, many of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity because, well, it’s Washington, described a hustler and charmer with a herculean work ethic, often squeezing in four source meetings a day. “He seemed drawn to me,” recalled Ms. Quinn, who met him at an Axios party at Nobu. “He asked me to dinner.”