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Reporters' Frustration Is Building Over Lack of Biden Access
They'll complain about anything. I'm grateful for the HONEST daily briefings, something that was lacking for 4 years. I think they're looking for a 'gotcha' moment.
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2021/03/reporters-frustration-is-building-over-lack-of-biden-access
Reporters’ Frustration Is Building Over Lack of Biden Access
While the president regularly takes a handful of questions from the press, he has yet to hold a formal, solo news conference since taking office—a break from his White House predecessors.
By Charlotte Klein
March 8, 2021
White House reporters are getting restless as President Joe Biden has yet to hold a formal news conference since taking office, with reporters raising the issue in the briefing room and the Washington Post calling for an extended back-and-forth with the press. Though Biden has already “shown galaxies more respect for the free press and the people’s right to know” than Donald Trump, the paper’s editorial board wrote, he’s falling short in denying the media the kind of traditional news conferences that his 15 most recent predecessors—including Trump—had all submitted themselves to by this point in their term. “Avoiding news conferences must not become a regular habit for Mr. Biden,” the editorial board warned, noting that while the president regularly fields a handful of questions from reporters at the end of an event, “these often perfunctory exchanges are no substitute for formal, solo news conferences at which reporters can ask follow-up questions, answers are supposed to be more than a couple of words long, and the president’s thoughts on a wide range of issues can be mined.”
Appearing to recognize the futility in comparing Trump’s availability to Biden’s lack thereof, the Post recalled that the former president’s first news conference—complete with “[rantings] about cable news and personal grudges”—was an early preview of his abuse of the megaphone and apparent interest in taking questions only to propagate falsehoods. Trump would go on to make more than 30,000 false or misleading claims. Indeed, among the most fundamental differences between Biden and his predecessor is that “he does not lie constantly and brazenly, and he does not tweet incendiary nonsense to distract from his failings,” a “more thoughtful, reality-based approach” that Biden “should be eager to advertise,” the editorial board writes. “He should do so in front of reporters, for extended periods of time, and more often than his late start would suggest.
The editorial comes as journalists have grown increasingly frustrated with the situation, and vocally so. Asked during Friday’s briefing when Biden will hold his first solo press conference, Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, said he would likely do so “before the end of the month” while defending the delay by saying the president “takes questions several times a week” and citing the twin economic and public health crises he inherited upon taking office. “I think the American people would certainly understand if his focus and his energy and his attention has been on” providing “recovery and relief” to the public, Psaki said.
While Biden is undeniably busy, his late start is also part of the disciplined media strategy that the new White House has adopted, a stark departure from the chaos of Trump’s presidency, in which the former president might contradict his own administration in a tweet. The shift is welcome in many ways but frustrating in others, particularly in preventing the media from engaging Biden on policy matters and other issues in exchanges “that go beyond the administration’s curated talking points,” the Associated Press reports. “The volume has been turned so low in the Biden White House that they need to worry about whether anyone is listening,” said veteran journalist Frank Sesno, who suggested to the AP that the message management could also be a form of damage control for the historically gaffe-prone president. “He’s not great in these news conferences. He rambles. His strongest communication is not extemporaneous.” (Biden will deliver a primetime address on the COVID-19 crisis on Thursday evening, the White House announced Monday).
Still, the delay in holding a news conference is particularly notable given Biden’s repeated emphasis on freedom of the press and pledged transparency, which he has made good on in part by restoring the daily press briefing at the White House, as well as at the State Department. But with the press conference, which AP reporter and White House Correspondents’ Association president Zeke Miller called “critical to informing the American people and holding an administration accountable to the public,” Biden has come up short. According to a study by presidential scholar Martha Kumar, by this point in their terms, “Trump and George H.W. Bush had each held five press conferences, Bill Clinton four, George W. Bush three, Barack Obama two and Ronald Reagan one,” the AP reports.
32 replies
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Hide and watch. The man is freakin busy. See, I could do Jenn's job.
