White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre ripped the New York Times on Wednesday for its coverage of concerns about President Biden’s age and mental competence following the release of the Hur report earlier this month.
Jean-Pierre told a member of the White House press gaggle on board Air Force One that she agrees with former Times public editor Margaret Sullivan’s criticism of the paper for hounding the president over his age and fitness for office.
Audio from the gaggle featured the White House official being asked to weigh in on Times Publisher A.G. Sulzberger’s recent claim that the White House has been "extremely upset" about his outlet’s coverage of the president’s age.
In an interview this week with The Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, Sulzberger said, "We are going to continue to report fully and fairly, not just on Donald Trump but also on President Joe Biden. He is a historically unpopular incumbent and the oldest man to ever hold this office. We’ve reported on both of those realities extensively, and the White House has been extremely upset about it"
Sulzberger’s comments came after The Times published a series of reports scrutinizing Biden’s age and mental faculties following Special Counsel Robert Hur’s report on the president’s classified documents case that noted Biden’s "poor memory."
The reports included a piece from Times correspondent Michael Shear calling Biden’s response to Hur’s description of his memory a "political disaster," as well an editorial from the paper claiming that Biden’s attempts to reassure Americans his memory is fine "didn’t work."
Those and other pieces have reportedly perturbed White House staff and Jean-Pierre’s answer seemed to reflect that.
The reporter addressed Jean-Pierre, stating, "The publisher of the New York Times has talked about getting flak from the White House for its coverage of the president’s age. Can you talk to us a little about what you think is sort of fair game when covering the nation’s oldest president and what might be off limits?"
Jean-Pierre began with a quick plug about Biden’s achievements, "You all ask me pretty regularly about the president’s age and we lay out what our perspective is. We lay out what we see — we’ve seen this president do in the last three years, which is, deliver on historic pieces of legislation that’s going to change the lives of Americans for generations to come."
The press secretary then said the administration agrees with Sullivan, who recently blasted the paper over its reporting on Biden's age.
"Now, to your question, more specifically, about The New York Times coverage, is that that display what we believe a journalistic objectivity about coverage of the president’s age speaks to why we agree with former New York Times public editor Margaret Sullivan."
Jean-Pierre then directly quoted from Sullivan’s recent Substack.com article, "And she says, ‘Maybe The Times and other major media outlets ought to look in the mirror... Self-scrutiny, and course correction are not among [Big Media’s] core strengths.’ And I'll leave it there."
In the piece, titled "The media's circular logic and destructive obsession with Biden's age," Sullivan quoted one of the Times articles that said, "‘While Mr. Biden, 81, has been dogged by doubts and concerns about his advancing years from voters, Mr. Trump, who is 77, has not felt the same blowback.’"
"’Dogged by,’ you say? Who, exactly, is doing the dogging?" she asked, adding, "Maybe the Times and other major media outlets ought to look in the mirror."
Sullivan further suggested, "How about a note from New York Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger to two key people who report to him directly — the opinion editor and the top newsroom editor — that goes something like this: ‘Katie and Joe, I’m concerned that we’re going overboard with both coverage and commentary about Biden’s age. Let’s keep this in better perspective and tone it down.’ Believe me, those two sentences would make a world of difference."
But she concluded, "Alas, self-scrutiny and course correction are not among Big Media’s core strengths. Wagon-circling and self-satisfaction? Better grades there."
