President Biden sat down for a gentle one-on-one with Howard Stern on Friday — a day after The New York Times issued a statement condemning the 81-year-old for avoiding the press more than any other commander in modern chef.
The former sports star’s questions ranged from praising Biden’s new airline refund policy (“so awesome,” in Stern’s words) to asking whether the president’s parents were political, including recounting Biden’s schoolboy football experience and meeting his first wife Neilia.
At one point, the “Private Parts” star said Biden had a “very cinematic life,” although it was unclear whether that was a tongue-in-cheek reference to the president’s many questionable anecdotes .
The conversation with Stern adds to Biden’s limited number of interviews, but the president still has by far the fewest interrogations in office of any recent chief executive — and a running tally is kept by Martha Joynt Kumar, director of the White House Transition Project. , shows that it’s not particularly close.
According to Kumar, Biden only gave 89 interviews in total during his first three years in office.
At the same time, during their first term, Donald Trump had granted 300 interviews, Barack Obama had granted 422, George W. Bush had granted 135, Bill Clinton and George HW Bush had each granted 168, and Ronald Reagan had granted 189, as the count shows. .
When Biden gives interviews, it’s often with friendly outlets like MSNBC — or the recording is held up for days.
Earlier this month, Univision held an interview with Biden for six days between recording and release, while the president’s March 28 interview with “Smartless” podcast co-hosts Will Arnett, Jason Bateman and Sean Hayes will not be released in its entirety until Monday.
Biden has also held just three solo news conferences at the White House — and just 33 once joint appearances with other world leaders are counted.
Even these rare occasions were marked by the octogenarian reading answers from index cards after answering questions from a pre-selected list of journalists.
On Thursday, the Times criticized Biden for refusing to sit down for further interviews with independent media outlets.
“For anyone who understands the role of the free press in a democracy, it should be troubling that President Biden has so actively and effectively avoided questions from independent journalists during his term in office. The president occupies the most important office in our country, and the press plays a vital role in providing insight into his thinking and worldview, allowing the public to evaluate his record and hold him to account,” begins the press release.
“Mr. Biden has given far fewer news conferences and interviews with independent journalists than virtually all of his predecessors,” the Times added, noting that publisher AG Sulzberger had urged the White House to let Biden sit down with figures like the Wall Street Journal or Reuters – even if they want to avoid official interviews with the Gray Lady.
“Systematically avoiding interviews and questions from major news organizations not only undermines an important norm, it also sets a dangerous precedent that future presidents can use to avoid scrutiny and accountability.”
The White House has long maintained that Biden makes himself available to the press by answering impromptu questions as he visits Marine One and other occasions.
However, such back-and-forths — of which Biden has had 535 so far in his term, according to Kumar — are hampered by helicopter noise and lack of time for thorough questioning.
New York Post
