Per the liberal Daily Beast, Joe Biden’s staff are talking to reporters about which questions they’re going to ask Jen Psaki at press conferences. This information came out during an informal White House Correspondents Association Zoom call. It was supposed to be off-the-record, but complaints from reporters about the process were reported to the Daily Beast.
One reporter raised the issue during an informal White House Correspondents Association Zoom call last Friday. According to multiple sources, leaders at the meeting advised print reporters to push back against requests by the White House press team to learn of questions in advance, or simply to not respond to the Biden team’s inquiries.
“While it’s a relief to see briefings return, particularly with a commitment to factual information, the press can’t really do its job in the briefing room if the White House is picking and choosing the questions they want,” one White House correspondent said. “That’s not really a free press at all.”
How “free” is our free press if they engaged in all-out hostility against Donald Trump to the point where reporters like Jim Acosta and April Ryan tried to make themselves the story, while with the other side they spoon-feed their questions? This report only makes Psaski’s seeming inability to answer questions without promising to “circle back” later even more puzzling.
Of course, the Daily Beast tries to play this off as an “everybody tries to find out what the reporters are interested in” kind of thing, but note what that reporter is saying. The Biden administration knows what questions some of the reporters are going to ask and they’re calling on those reporters to get the softball questions they want. That kind of thing corrupts people on both sides because not only does the Biden administration get to avoid tough questions, the reporters will stop asking tough questions to make sure they’re called on.
Why ask that question about Hunter Biden’s corruption if everyone knows they’re going to call on someone who asks what flavor of ice cream Joe Biden ate yesterday? Good for the reporters that complained about it, but the hypocrisy of the “unbiased watchdogs of the press” working hand-in-hand with the Biden administration is hard to stomach.
John Hawkins is the author of 101 Things All Young Adults Should Know.
