Joe Biden's lack of media scrutiny 'breathtaking and unprecedented,' has influenced election, experts say

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Joe Biden acknowledges past court-packing position

Democratic nominee travels to Florida to make his pitch to seniors; Peter Doocy gives an update on 'Special Report'

The mainstream media is belatedly acknowledging that it has given Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden a pass from press scrutiny, neither asking him tough questions nor holding him accountable for dodging inquiries on key issues.  

Axios published a story Wednesday headlined, “Joe Biden is the luckiest, least scrutinized frontrunner,” which detailed the unbalanced coverage of President Trump and his challenger.  

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“The media's obsession with Trump — and Trump's compulsion to dominate the news — allowed Biden to purposely and persistently minimize public appearances and tough questions,” Axios wrote before noting that “Biden has answered less than half as many questions from the press as Trump” since Aug. 31.  

Conservative strategist Chris Barron is happy the news outlet finally pointed out Biden’s soft coverage, but challenged them to hold him accountable going forward.  

“Congrats on Axios for pointing out the painfully obvious -- that Joe Biden has gotten a total free pass from the media," Barron told Fox News. "Axios could actually do something about this and start asking Biden serious and tough questions about where he stands, his record, and how he explains his frequent gaffes and policy obfuscation.”

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Axios reported “Biden went almost three months without taking questions from beat reporters,” and has “yet to be pinned down” on a wide variety of topics.  

The Democratic nominee has refused to say if he plans to pack the Supreme Court if he wins in November and Trump's Supreme Court nominee, Judge Amy Coney Barrett, is confirmed. He has repeatedly dodged questions on the subject and faced criticism on Friday when he went so far as to say voters don't deserve to know the answer.   

“Biden also has mostly gotten off easy on Medicare-for-all, police funding, Pentagon spending, fracking, reparations for African Americans, the Green New Deal and his support for the 1994 crime bill,” Axios reported.  

Cornell Law School professor and media critic William A. Jacobson said the lack of scrutiny for Biden is impacting the election.  

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"Mainstream media lack of scrutiny of Biden is breathtaking and unprecedented, and has influenced the election in Biden's favor,” Jacobson told Fox News.  

“It proves the point that media bias is demonstrated not only by what the media does cover, but also by what it does not cover,” Jacobson added. “And in this election year, the media has permitted Biden to hide from the type of contentious interactions the media has with Trump, and even when Biden is available, his handlers strictly control the interactions." 

Media Research Center Director Tim Graham is surprised that Axios published the story, saying it was information that was already known to anyone paying attention.  

“It should be obvious that the media carries around the full knowledge that it is cooperating in letting Biden avoid scrutiny."

— Tim Graham

“It should be obvious that the media carries around the full knowledge that it is cooperating in letting Biden avoid scrutiny. When he has made himself available for press questions, the vast majority of them are embarrassing softballs,” Graham told Fox News.  

“Journalists like Chuck Todd have openly lauded this as a winning campaign strategy,” Graham continued. “All of this exposes what close observers already know: democracy only ‘dies in darkness' when Democrats aren't winning, according to these very cooperative liberal outlets.”  

DePauw University professor and media critic Jeffrey McCall told Fox News the Biden campaign made “a clear decision to keep their candidate out of the press line of fire and it appears to have worked quite well,” while Trump wants to be front and center on the news agenda.   

“It makes sense that the news media would cover all things Trump. But the press has largely failed in its watchdog function by not more thoroughly covering the Biden candidacy,” McCall said. “At this moment, many voters might be comfortable not knowing more about Biden's stances on issues, and so on. But the press should still feel a professional obligation to provide the scrutiny that should come with any presidential candidate. In a sense, the national press is letting the citizenry down by not fully covering the Biden campaign.”  

Biden’s campaign spokesperson Andrew Bates gave Axios a snarky comment for its story, implying that Trump isn’t scrutinized when he appears on cable news opinion programming. (The comment turned out to be bad timing, as Trump committed to a town hall event with NBC News on Wednesday morning.) Daily Caller White House correspondent-turned-Spectator USA Washington editor Amber Athey doesn't appreciate the Biden campaign’s attitude when it comes to transparency.  

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“Biden’s spokesperson is purposefully misleading Americans by suggesting his candidate’s ‘hiding in the basement’ strategy is the same as President Trump being interviewed by opinion hosts. The reality is that the president doesn’t shy away from tough questions, like when he recently sat down with journalists Chris Wallace and Jonathan Swan,” Athey told Fox News.  

“Meanwhile, Biden immediately reacts angrily when he gets caught in a situation where he actually faces scrutiny, such as on the court-packing question. He and his aides seem to think he is entitled to always being surrounded by friendly media and never having to be held accountable to the American people,” she added. “Say what you will about Trump, but he is easily the most accessible president in modern times.” 

McCall summed up the situation by adding, “If Biden wins, the campaign should thank the media for its general non-coverage. That clearly is a factor in this weird campaign season." 

Fox News’ Evie Fordham contributed to this report.