Fox News Flash top headlines for January 16
Fox News Flash top headlines are here. Check out what's clicking on Foxnews.com.
CNN political analyst Joe Lockhart blamed the press on Sunday for treating President Biden "unfairly," arguing that the Biden administration does not deserve to be covered with the same "snarky attitude" that was afforded to former President Trump.
During a Sunday appearance on CNN's "Reliable Sources," host Brian Stelter asked Lockhart about the media's treatment of the current White House occupant, and how it compares to his predecessor.
LOCKHART COMPARES ‘LET’S GO BRANDON' SLOGAN TO RHETORIC FROM NAZIS, ISIS, KKK
U.S. President Joe Biden speaks to reporters as he departs for tornado ravaged Kentucky from the White House in Washington, U.S., December 15, 2021. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque (REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque)
"I think the press is failing," Lockhart said plainly. "They’re treating him [Biden] unfairly. First off, there ought to have been a dividend for returning truth and decency to the White House, and we didn’t get that, we didn’t get that at all," he told Stelter. "We’ve kind of returned to the snarky attitude we saw with Trump and in some respects to Obama."
Lockhart said the media have become more concerned with viewership and ratings than informing the public.
"I will give you an example about some of the decisions that get made. I said from the very first briefing the Trump spokespeople lied, they lied every day, every briefing and the majority of those briefings were aired on live television," he told Stelter. "Jen Psaki is in there telling us the truth, she’s telling us what’s going on in the government, what people need to hear, and they’re rarely on live television. So that tells me this is more about entertainment than it is about news. It is more about getting viewers than letting people know what’s going on in the country. And that’s a failure, as far as I’m concerned."
Brian Stelter’s program averaged a dismal 583,000 viewers. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for WarnerMedia) (Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for WarnerMedia)
The sentiment has become a common one among Democrats and outspoken Biden allies who are scrambling to explain the president's tanking popularity and devastating approval numbers.
Stelter, who has garnered a reputation as a "bootlicker" to Biden when faced with remotely critical media coverage, appeared to agree with Lockhart, arguing that while Biden holds fewer formal press conferences than Trump, he does take informal questions from reporters "more than past presidents."
The interview comes off the heels of a widely-panned exchange last year, where the CNN host asked Psaki what the media "gets wrong" in covering the Biden White House. In the same exchange, Stelter asked Psaki to provide more advice for journalists, asking her to share guidance for reporters "to stay close to the truth in this world of lies."
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
New York Times opinion staff editor David Swerdlick praised Lockhart after the segment, writing "I index media failures less than many folks when assessing where things have gone off track, message-wise, for Biden. But @joelockhart just made a good point to @brianstelter: 'There ought to have been a dividend for returning truth and decency to the WH, and we didn't get that.'"
Fox News First
Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox.
By entering your email and clicking the Subscribe button, you agree to the Fox News Privacy Policy and Terms of Use, and agree to receive content and promotional communications from Fox News. You understand that you can opt-out at any time.