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While House objects to framing of stories
The letter from Ian Sams, spokesman for the White House counsel’s office, suggested that reporters improperly framed stories about the Feb. 8 release of Special Counsel Robert Hur’s report.
Sams pointed to stories by CBS News, The Wall Street Journal, The Associated Press and others emphasising that Hur had found evidence that Biden willfully retained and disclosed classified material.
Sam wrote that much of that so-called evidence didn’t hold up and was negated by Hur’s decision not to press charges. He said it was critical to address it when “significant errors,” like misstating the findings and conclusions of a federal investigation of a president occur.
It was Sams’ second foray into press criticism in a few months; last fall, he urged journalists to give more scrutiny to House Republicans and the reasons behind their impeachment inquiry of Biden.
“Everybody makes mistakes, and nobody’s perfect,” Sams told the AP.
“But a healthy back and forth over what’s the full story helps make both the press and the government sharper in how the country and world get the news they need to hear.”
Kelly O’Donnell, president of the correspondents’ association and an NBC News correspondent, suggested Sams’ concerns were misdirected and should be addressed to individual news organisations.
“It is inappropriate for the White House to utilise internal pool distribution channels, primarily for logistics and the rapid sharing of need-to-know information, to disseminate generalised critiques of news coverage,” O’Donnell said.
In a separate statement, Biden campaign spokesman TJ Ducklo criticised media outlets for time spent discussing the 81-year-old president’s age and mental capacity, an issue that was raised anew when Biden addressed the Hur report with reporters.
Americans deserve a press corps that covers Trump “with the seriousness and ferocity this moment requires,” said Ducklo, who resigned from the White House in 2021 for threatening a reporter.
To be fair, Trump’s comments at a rally Friday night likely came past the deadlines of some sections where Biden stories appeared that weekend. And his remarks have hardly been ignored by media outlets.
AG Sulzberger, publisher of The Times, noted in an interview with the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism that Biden’s team had been “extremely upset” about its coverage lately. “We’re not anyone’s opposition,” he said, “and we’re not anyone’s lapdog.”
