President Biden’s reelection campaign has attacked the media for over-reporting Biden’s poor debate performance and under-reporting positive news about the president.
Biden deputy campaign chairman Quentin Fulks directly mocked the press during a Zoom call with donors Monday night, saying, “The media has spent an enormous amount of time overstating this. We are not going to be on the defensive in this campaign.”
The campaign is also continuing its onslaught in fundraising messages to supporters.
“Did you see the amazing footage of our supporters doing the Cupid Shuffle on the runway at 2 a.m. the night of the debate?” Biden’s fundraising email sent over the weekend read. “No, you probably didn’t, because the media is hyperventilating and desperately trying to dramatize it for ratings purposes.”
Biden’s shaky debate performance has raised doubts about his viability as the presumptive Democratic nominee. Concerns about the 81-year-old president’s age were evident before the debate, but his disorganized performance against former President Trump amplified those concerns.
On Tuesday, Rep. Lloyd Doggett of Texas became the first sitting House Democrat to call on Trump to resign.
To deflect criticism, the administration turned to a familiar enemy: the press.
Criticism of the media began while the debate was still underway, with some accusing CNN hosts Jake Tapper and Dana Bash of failing to fact-check Trump’s repeated false claims.
Tapper himself pushed back this week against the campaign’s accusations of blame.
“Democratic leaders appear to be trying to convince the public not to believe what they see and hear,” the anchor said on Monday’s news show, adding that it would be “dishonest” to dismiss the presidential debate performance as a one-off event, as aides have said.
Some observers have drawn parallels between the Biden campaign’s attacks on the media in recent days and attacks his opponents have used against journalists for years, a tactic that has proven effective in galvanizing Trump supporters in recent political cycles.
“The most important thing in political battles is contrast,” said a top Democratic strategist. “The press is unpopular, and in the PR battle, the press is the obvious enemy.”
But others say such a strategy is risky and would only pose further problems for the president’s re-election chances.
“This shows they’re weakening their position,” said Keith Myers, a public relations expert who teaches at Virginia Tech’s School of Communications. “This is clearly a shifting of responsibility tactic, and while the media doesn’t usually respond well to this type of criticism, in this case it’s unfounded.”
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Tuesday defended its response to media reports after the debate, saying the administration was simply trying to “move on from” the debate’s aftermath.
“We have the right to respond. It’s a compromise,” she told a news conference. “It’s an exercise of democracy. If there’s a report, we don’t believe it’s true. I don’t see anything wrong with it.” [push back] … If they want to share their side of the story, they will.”
Susan Del Percio, a Republican strategist who has not endorsed Trump, said losing campaigns often take an adversarial approach toward news organizations.
“It’s what you do when you have nothing else,” Del Percio told The Hill.
While many of the attacks against Trump have been aimed at discrediting specific prominent journalists or basic facts about Trump, those opposing the press in support of Biden have taken a different approach.
“Trump is trying to discredit the media as not telling the truth,” Del Percio said, “but it’s not the same thing as delivering news that is alive and based on truth and interviews. The media is an easy target, but right now it’s the Democrats that are delivering news that is alive and based on truth.”
One Democratic strategist said the media was not to blame for what happened Thursday, but that “media amplification made it worse.” But the strategist said the coverage was “not excessive or unwarranted.”
The strategist said Biden has generally maintained good relations with media members during his time in office, but he has always felt “a certain disrespect” since the last election campaign, when he struggled in the Democratic primary and the media ignored him.
“He’ll never forget it,” the strategist said.
There are some signs that the White House and Biden campaign are still willing to work with major media outlets, despite the frosty relationship.
ABC, which is set to host the second presidential debate this fall, announced Tuesday that Biden will appear in a one-on-one interview with moderator George Stephanopoulos, which will air over the holiday weekend.
Some observers say this is a step in the right direction for the Trump campaign, as it would be better to focus its messaging on issues that matter to voters rather than complaining about the tone of the coverage.
“If he continues to campaign and spends the rest of the campaign trying to blame the press, I don’t think it’s going to be very effective,” said Mark Conrad, a professor of law and ethics at Fordham University. “For Joe Biden, it’s going to be about Donald Trump. You’re not voting for the press, you’re voting for the candidate.”
