Biden long overdue for news conference
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Friday that President Joe Biden would hold a news conference “before the end of the month.” Last month would have been better, and this week would be better than next. Avoiding news conferences must not become a regular habit for Biden. He is the president, and Americans have every right to expect that he will regularly submit himself to substantial questioning.
We say this while recognizing that Biden has shown galaxies more respect for the free press and the people’s right to know than his predecessor did. He reinstated daily news briefings, which are led by Psaki and often feature Cabinet members and other senior administration officials. Those briefings are informative, not forums for White House lackeys to attack journalists. Daily briefings are back at the State Department, too.
Biden has also given several TV and print interviews since his swearing in. He does not lie constantly and brazenly, and he does not tweet incendiary nonsense to distract from his failings. Last month, a senior Biden press aide had to resign for berating a journalist, the sort of behavior that former president Donald Trump would have rewarded. All in all, Biden is proving to be a far more presidential president.
But each of his 15 most recent predecessors, including Trump, held a full news conference within their first 33 days in office. Biden has been in office for 46 days. It was only after journalists’ complaints became increasingly loud — and following a wave of bad press — that Psaki announced Friday that the president would appear for an extended, unaccompanied question-and-answer session with reporters.
Though Biden regularly answers a smattering of questions after making announcements or other events, Washington Post media critic Erik Wemple points out that these often perfunctory exchanges are no substitute for formal, solo news conferences at which reporters can ask follow-up questions, answers are supposed to be more than a couple of words long, and the president’s thoughts on a wide range of issues can be mined. Trump’s first news conference gave Americans an early sense of the chaos and indignity that would define his administration, as he ranted about cable news and personal grudges.
Biden should be eager to advertise his more thoughtful, reality-based approach. He should do so in front of reporters, for extended periods of time, and more often than his late start would suggest.