Shielding Biden From The Press Is Nothing New

 

Waiting 64 Days To Hold A Press Conference Is Part Of A Longstanding Pattern – Biden’s Aides Want To Protect Him From Tough Questions And Honest Answers

                                        

BIDEN’S STAFF HAVE BEEN TRYING TO SHIELD HIM FROM THE PRESS FOR A LONG TIME

Biden’s staff have long sought to shield Biden from the press to “save Biden from himself.”

This includes shooing reporters out of campaign stops, attempting to edit pool reports for “potential landmines” and “eavesdrop[ing] on journalists’ conversations” with campaign event attendees.

In 2011, Biden aides forced pool reporter Scott Powers to wait in a storage closet for an hour during a Biden-attended fundraiser Powers was covering.

Powers said that he had been detained to prevent him from interacting with donors attending the fundraiser: “the protocol is they didn't want me to talk to anybody.”

In 2013, a Biden staffer held a student journalist “against [his] will” as she forced him to delete photos he took of Biden during an event.

That staffer, Dana Rosenzweig, was recently hired by the Biden White House.

JUST WEEKS INTO OFFICE, THE BIDEN WHITE HOUSE HAS CONTINUED THAT PATTERN

Just days into office, Biden's press team tried to screen questions from reporters for Press Secretary Jen Psaki's daily briefings before they were asked.

Politico's Tara Palmeri: “To everyone asking why this matters: If Psaki doesn't like your question, she doesn't call on you.”

One White House correspondent said, “the press can't really do its job in the briefing room if the White House is picking and choosing the questions they want. That's not really a free press at all.”

In late February, the Biden Administration announced that reporters covering the White House would be charged for coronavirus tests, which are required for anyone entering the White House grounds.

The Washington Post’s Paul Farhi called this effectively a daily $170 “admission fee.”

The fees “could add up to tens of thousands of dollars” over time for “small and cash-strapped outlets” facing these costs, with one reporter calling it “a means test for White House coverage.”

On Biden’s first day in office, Deputy White House Press Secretary TJ Ducklo “berated and threatened” Politico’s Tara Palmeri who was working on a story about a potential conflict of interest.

Politico editors said that Ducklo had called Palmeri derogatory names and threatened to “ruin” her.

EVEN WITH A PRESS CONFERENCE, THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION IS CONTINUING THEIR “MEDIA BLACKOUT” ON THE BORDER CRISIS

Reporters and even Democrats are “calling out the Biden administration for a lack of press access” at detention facilities, calling it a “media blackout.”

The Biden Administration has implemented an “unofficial ‘gag order’” on the Border Patrol, restricting the information immigration officials can provide to the media.

Radio Television Digital News Foundation’s Dan Shelley: Biden “promised things would be different. Turns out he was right, but in this case not the way we had hoped.”

Getty Images’ John Moore: “I have photographed CBP under Bush, Obama and Trump but now - zero access is granted to media … There’s no modern precedent for a full physical ban on media access to CBP border operations.”

 

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