Question Time for President Biden is Thursday.
The president will be grilled by the press for the first time since taking office in January. The session will generate heat and light and hopefully a lot of news, but let’s recognize one thing at the outset. The average beat reporter cares a lot more about Biden’s answers and distractions than the average viewer or reader.
In Biden’s case, I was one of the first to start asking when he would hold a press, but I recognize that my family members care a lot more about stimulus controls than presidential press conferences. I dare say most Americans don’t even know about the press fracas.
But: this is a column about the media. We care about the availability of Biden. And we care! Pressers are important symbols of transparency and accountability. They are also practical forums for answering questions. And journalists are full of Qs for the president. So here’s a wide variety of columns, comments, and curtain raisers …
Biden’s “speak softly” strategy
“Limiting his exposure to the press and, by extension, the public is not just a defensive trick” by the Biden WH “to avoid an embarrassing blunder,” wrote Peter Nicholas for The Atlantic. “It is a deliberate calculation that people don’t have to hear or want to hear from the president from hour to hour.”
That’s a clear contrast to President Trump, and an important one. Nicholas asked Bill Frischling, the founder of Factba.se, to crunch the # ‘s and found that “as of last week, Biden had spoken about 116,000 words in public and spent 12 hours at the camera as president,” while on the same point in 2017, “Trump had spoken nearly three times as many words and was in front of the camera nearly three times as often.”
On a related note, this description by Ezra Klein stayed with me all month: “Speak softly and pass a big agenda.”
How he prepares
CNN’s Kevin Liptak and Kaitlan Collins spoke to multiple sources who reported that Biden has “been preparing for days” and that he “recognizes the bright spotlight it will bring. Biden has discussed his strategy with several members of his inner circle. and even held an informal practice session earlier this week. “
Scheduled for 1:15 p.m. ET, the press is a big deal in part because it will be Biden’s “longest interrogation period since he became president” and because the WH has waited so long to do it, some weeks of critical coverage from pro – Trump outlets. WaPo’s team noted that the busy news cycle – from the border to Boulder – also means that the press has “taken over major imports …”
View from the left
Many liberal activists are frustrated by the mainstream coverage of the Biden WH, and are becoming increasingly articulate. They are joined by some Never Trump Republicans like Jennifer Rubin, who
knocked the WH press corps while referring to the prospective press, saying “given their behavior in the briefing room, I expect the worst.”
Former Clinton WH press secretary Joe Lockhart wrote in an op-ed on CNN.com that Thursday is also a “ test for the media ” because “ Biden is not Trump, ” meaning there is no inborn liar and bully. “The rules that have arisen around Trump should not be applied to Biden,” Lockhart said. Some in the White House press have found out. Some have not. The press conference will be a national event on how the press is treating the new president. Mistrust of the media is very high in our country and an overly aggressive or irritating press corps can do more to harm journalism than the president. “
View from the right
“The delay in convening President Biden’s first solo press conference may have had the unintended consequence of raising the bar for his performance,” Naomi Lim wrote for the Washington Examiner. Until then, Fox News has been hyping this event for weeks. Former Fox host Bill O’Reilly, who sums up the resentful right-wing POV,
tweeted that “the White House press force wanted to harm Donald Trump” but “it will be 180 degrees tomorrow.” And Trump adviser Jason Miller responded to this NY Post headline, “No date has yet been set for Biden to address Congress joint session,” by
saying “they have to make sure he can get through a simple press conference first.”
Cover notes and quotes
– CNN’s Zachary B. Wolf and colleagues put together 30 questions for Biden …
– The press will be live everywhere from CNN to the broadcast networks. Lester Holt will anchor the coverage on NBC; Major Garrett on CBS; and David Muir on ABC.
– Fox News will also broadcast it live, but I’m curious what other right-wing channels are doing, and what kind of commentary they are surrounding the press with …
– The AP’s Calvin Woodward gave a revealing look back in time to the import of POTUS press machines …
– Jack Shafer said the WH avoided holding a press because “the president knows that somehow the public doesn’t care …”
– Clinton WH Press Secretary Mike McCurry was perfect in this interview with The Daily Beast’s Lloyd Grove: “The point of the press conference is that it actually enforces better government …”
– WaPo media columnist Margaret Sullivan said the press is a “vital form of accountability,” but given Trump’s misconduct it shouldn’t turn into a “performative exercise to equate two administrations just to show how hard we to be …”
