(left AP Photo/Evan Vucci, right Brian Zak/Sipa Press via New York Times)
There is a cold war of sorts between President Joe Biden and the New York Times, according to a new lengthy Politico report that features more than a few splashy details.
The report by Eli Stokols, based on two dozen interviews, details an increasingly tense relationship between Times staffers and the White House. Many in the White House, according to the report, see November as an “existential” choice between the president and Donald Trump and have taken more issue with how the Times portrays both candidates.
“Biden’s closest aides had come to see the Times as arrogant, intent on setting its own rules and unwilling to give Biden his due,” the report reads.
Among examples cited in the piece; New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd claiming she stopped hearing from White House officials after being behind a story about the president’s son, Hunter Biden. The frustration reportedly began in 2019 when the Times was not tipped off about an event where Biden was announcing his candidacy for president. Biden’s team reportedly later felt irked that the Times appeared to support more progressive candidates, giving them more positive coverage, something the paper denied.
“They’re not being realistic about what we do for a living. You can be a force for democracy, liberal democracy. You don’t have to be a force for the Biden White House,” New York Times washington bureau chief Elisabeth Bumiller told Politico.
Here’s a look at the five splashiest details from the Politico report on the Biden vs. New York Times feud:
1. NY Times Staffer Claims Publisher AG Sulzberger “Quietly Encourages…Tough Coverage” on Biden’s Age Because White House Won’t Grant an Interview
According to Politico, New York Times publisher AG Sulzberger believes a long-form interview with Biden is the “birthright” of the Times and he’s been “aggrieved” that the president has refused to sit for one.
One unnamed Times reporter suggested to Politico that “tough reporting” on Biden’s advanced age and lagging poll numbers is “quietly” encouraged by Sulzberger in retaliation for Biden’s unwillingness to sit for an interview.
“All these Biden people think that the problem is Peter Baker or whatever reporter they’re mad at that day,” the unnamed journalist told Politico. “It’s A.G. He’s the one who is pissed [that] Biden hasn’t done any interviews and quietly encourages all the tough reporting on his age.”
2. White House Staff Feeds Material to the “NYT Pitchbot” Account Which Famously Spoofs the Gray Lady
White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates, according to two people familiar who spoke to Politico, has fed material to the “NYT Pitchbot” account on X, which relentlessly hammers the Times over its coverage of Biden and Trump.
Biden joked at last year’s White House Correspondents dinner that he “loves” the “NYT Pitchbot” account.
3. NY Times and Biden Camps Are Both Convinced the Other Side Leaked Details of an Off the Record Meeting in Which the Biden Team Scolded the Paper
There have been multiple meetings where White House staff have brought up issues directly with the Times about what they perceive to be overly negative coverage of the president and soft coverage of the former president, but both sides believe details of an off-the-record meeting were leaked by the other side.
Senior campaign officials reportedly met with staff from multiple outlets earlier this year and details of the Times meeting, which was not “productive,” ended up leaking.
“We had done over a dozen of these meetings leading up to the Times meeting and only got a press inquiry about the meetings less than 48 hours after the Times meeting,” a senior campaign official told Politico. Staff of the paper, on the other hand, believe only the campaign could be behind it because only they had knowledge of all the meetings.
4. An Off the Record Sitdown with VP Harris at NY Times Headquarters Went Sideways:
Sulzberger reportedly took minutes out of allotted time last May for an off-the-record meeting with Vice President Kamala Harris so he could ask why Biden was not agreeing to an interview. Harris was upset and later told aides the line of questioning was a waste of time for the meeting, which included dozens of staffers for the paper.
Harris told Sulzberger to contact the White House press office for his interview.
5. A Top Times Star is Furious With One of the Politico Report’s Key Details
New York Times reporter Jonathan Swan quickly took issue with a specific part of Politico’s reporting involving Sulzberger.
The report claims Sulzberger, according to multiple people familiar with his private comments, believes “only an interview with a paper like the Times can verify that the 81-year-old Biden is still fit to hold the presidency.”
Swan claimed in an X post that Sulzberger’s words do not align with what he’s directly heard.
“I have spoken to AG over the past year about this topic & this caricature is unrecognizable,” he wrote. “I never usually comment on media stories but this irritated me bc it’s such a bs mischaracterization of his views about the importance of serious longform presidential interviews.”
Read the full Politico report here.
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