Most of the Biden administration’s criticism of the media feels like blaming the press for the president’s own messaging failures. For months, the administration has been in a petty feud with The New York Times over what it sees as unfair criticism of the president’s age. Biden has refused to grant an interview with the paper—even though it could help ease concerns about his mental faculties and push his message—in retaliation for its supposedly negative coverage of him. While emotions are undoubtedly very high, it’s not entirely clear what exactly Biden and his team want from the Times or the media more broadly, beyond jubilant headlines about every minor success the administration trumpets. Indeed, Biden’s recent decision to grant a lengthy interview with Time magazine could be seen as a shot at the Times, which has been seeking a sitdown for months—the president snubbing the country’s most prominent print news outlet for a glossy alternative.
The weirdest part of the administration’s obsession with coverage of the president’s age is that the Times—like other mainstream outlets—largely left the president’s advanced age undercovered until relatively recently, even though voters have long been concerned about it. Voters do not think that Biden is old because the media started covering concerns over his age over the last six months. They think he’s old because he is, at 81, by far the oldest person to ever occupy the White House and because he, unsurprisingly, moves and speaks like an 81-year-old.
Some criticisms of media coverage have been fair, if also whiny and misdirected. In February, the spokesperson for the White House Counsel’s office sent a letter to the White House Press Corps blasting the media’s coverage of the Hur report, which ostensibly cleared the president of misconduct in his handling of classified information but also included a number of exaggerated (and unrelated) criticisms of his mental acuity.
