Media top headlines August 19
In media news today, Biden faces intense backlash for avoiding questions on Afghanistan following address, Biden says ongoing ‘chaos’ in the country was ‘priced’ into the withdrawal decision, and an MSNBC opinion piece compares Republicans to the Taliban
President Joe Biden has given just nine sit-down news interviews in his first seven months in office, lagging far behind former Presidents Donald Trump and Barack Obama at the same point during their terms.
According to former CBS White House correspondent Mark Knoller, Biden's Wednesday interview with ABC's George Stephanopoulos was only his ninth since taking office in January, while at this same point in their presidencies, Trump had given 50 interviews and Obama had done 113. During his time at CBS, Knoller was known as an unofficial White House statistician.
Critics took to social media to poke fun at Biden, express shock at the "low" number of interviews he'd actually given, and question the motivation of his staff to keep him away from reporters.
Fox News contributor Mollie Hemingway simply responded to the lopsided number by saying, "Hoo boy."
JEN PSAKI ADMITS BIDEN TAKING IMPROMPTU REPORTER QUESTIONS IS ‘NOT SOMETHING WE RECOMMEND’
Biden is no stranger to criticism over his lack of access to the press, often taking flak for not answering questions following speeches, events and announcements. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki even admitted in May that Biden taking impromptu reporter questions wasn't something her team recommended.
Biden waited more than two months after taking office to hold his first solo press conference, a modern record.
Most recently, Biden has faced intense backlash for avoiding answering questions on the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan.
"President Biden seems to be getting better at leaving the room without taking reporters' questions at precisely the moment he has many many questions to answer," CNN Political Director David Chalian wrote Thursday, after Biden finished his prepared remarks and ignored shouted questions as he exited.
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Fox News contributor Joe Concha noted the White House had no press briefing scheduled for the day, nor any public remarks or press conferences.
"No White House press briefing today, and the president has nothing scheduled regarding any public remarks or press conference scheduled to talk Afghanistan. The White House continues to mostly run and hide during this crisis," he wrote.
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