President Joe Biden held his very first formal White House Press conference but it appeared as though most reporters were pre-selected by his team and their questions were scripted.
As was done throughout the 2020 presidential election, members of Biden’s staff were heard calling on specific reporters to present their questions to the president. Reporters from The Associated Press, The Washington Post, NBC News, and Bloomberg News were among those pre-selected.
However, Biden did seem to offer an impromptu question to Peter Doocy from Fox News, who he chaffed for “always ask[ing] him tough questions and always has an edge to them,” but allowed it because he “like[s] him anyway.”
Journalists on social media were quick to point out the mostly-staged event.
So I guess I need to continue the practice of telling you all what I would've asked here. https://t.co/eHytzOGx3F
— Niels Lesniewski (@nielslesniewski) January 25, 2021
A White House handler is calling on reporters by name and by outlet one-by-one to ask Biden a question, unlike Trump who called on reporters as the spirt moved him.
— Philip Melanchthon Wegmann (@PhilipWegmann) January 25, 2021
Like the campaign, Biden’s staff is choosing which reporters can ask questions instead of the president doing it himself. This continues to be profoundly odd and a painfully obvious attempt to protect him from those suspected of having the audacity to ask a challenging question.
— Joe Concha (@JoeConchaTV) January 25, 2021
This is clearly a continuation of a profoundly odd attempt to protect Biden from members of the media who might have the audacity to ask challenging questions.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki claims that this was just “an effort to make sure we are rotating through reporters in the pool, the President took questions from wire reporters, one print outlet and a few network correspondents today and will look forward to taking additional questions again soon.”
Biden’s presser can not hold a candle to daily press briefings held by Psaki, who not only takes questions from virtually every reporter in the room but also allows some to ask additional questions.
