President Joe Biden is setting records for his sparse outreach to the press, notching a fraction of the face time with journalists that his recent predecessors scored, reports The Washington Examiner.
Reporters scored 18 media interviews with Biden by the start of the month, a small sliver of the 89 conducted by former President Donald Trump and the 141 by former President Barack Obama at the same point in their presidencies, according to data compiled by presidential historian Martha Joynt Kumar.
Former Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton held more, with 44 and 53, respectively, while George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan held 46.
The Biden administration is wrestling with inflation, a new coronavirus variant, rising crime, and supply chain delays — all issues of significant public interest. Biden’s slimmed-down interview portfolio remains one area where the White House could quickly boost supply.
Still, the White House has extended few interviews with the president to reporters, telling journalists earlier this year that doing so was not a priority.
The sparse access shows a White House fearful of the president veering from the program, presidential historian Craig Shirley told the Washington Examiner.
Legacy media’s waning influence, coupled with a partisan media surge, could be blamed for Biden’s pared-down interview schedule, according to presidential historian and Rutgers University history, journalism, and media studies professor David Greenberg.
The minimalist strategy served Biden well on the campaign trail last year.
While Trump’s team assailed then-candidate Biden’s “basement bunker” surroundings, it kept the Democratic nominee on message and largely skirmish-free. His advisers justified the effort by pointing to the spread of the coronavirus.
But nearly one year into office, and with the party facing sharp electoral headwinds, Biden has yet to drop the veil, leading Democrats to wonder whether the tactic is still serving him.
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