NYT reporter says their nonstop coverage of Biden's age is retribution

[summer_in_TX]

29. This "either you do a sit-down interview with us, OR we'll harp on your age, and whatever else" is coercive.

But so many of those running for office at any level these days refuse to do sit-down interviews with newspaper editorial teams. They cut them out of the equation. That's bad for democracy writ large.

In Texas, we pretty much never get any Republican candidates who will sit down for an interview and so the voters don't get a sense of how they respond to nuanced questions. Even if we disagree with the newspaper's endorsements, at least they would detail their reasons based on the interviews, allowing far more information than candidate-controlled PR does.

If the campaign team doesn't want him to do interviews with news media lest video be misused, then print media interviews avoid that potential pitfall.

We need a norm where candidates up and down the ballot respect the public need for independent eyes up close. No one likes to be on the receiving end of coercion though. Not surprised if Biden has his Irish up.

Too bad the anonymous source didn't just quietly tip off the Biden team so this wouldn't be a high profile "thing" now.