May08

electoral-vote.com

Dem 51

   

GOP 49

Biden Follows His Press Coverage, Too

Everyone knows about Donald Trump's near-obsessive tracking of how he's covered in the media. The former president was particularly interested in how he was portrayed on right-wing networks and websites, but he also kept a close eye on certainly non-right-wing outlets, most obviously The New York Times.

Politico has a very interesting piece about Joe Biden's consumption of news, which is almost as extensive as Trump's was. The current president does not remain in the executive residence watching Fox until 11:00 a.m., but he most certainly invests considerable time in tracking what's being said about him.

Among the main takeaways from the article:

• Biden watches TV news, particularly Morning Joe, while riding his exercise bike in the morning
• There is a small TV in the Oval Office, and when there's no press and no meetings, it's tuned to CNN
• Like Trump, Biden calls media members to compliment them (or sometimes critique them) on their coverage
• Like Trump, Biden has his favorite reporters and commenters, particularly David Brooks and Thomas Friedman
• Biden regularly reads The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal
• Biden's staff gathers clips from local and minority-focused publications for his perusal
• Biden is often annoyed by the media's narratives, and his inability to redirect them

We really don't have much to add here, other than to note that it's part of the modern presidency to keep tabs on what the media's saying. Either the president does the work himself, or his staff does it, or both. And while it's an unavoidable part of the modern presidency, it's also not exclusive to the modern presidency. Though the number of media and number of outlets has expanded, presidents like Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt also paid very close attention to what the Fourth Estate was saying. Indeed, when he was assassinated, Lincoln's pockets contained no fewer than eight different newspaper clippings featuring coverage favorable to his administration. (Z)