While Biden has maintained a limited and limited relationship with members of the White House press body, he has also maintained a level of media solidarity and respect that contrasted sharply with former President Trump’s ongoing attacks on media credibility. It is an approach that government officials say is appropriate and that Democrats say is part of Biden’s effort to restore the White House to a more normal relationship with the media. “He likes the press, he appreciates what you all do, but he was a little indifferent, deliberate,” said one administration official. The government official acknowledged that Biden had conducted fewer interviews and press conferences, but said voters were not interested and that the president had found other ways to reach out to the general public. “No one sits there at home and counts the number of interviews he does,” the official said. “Could he do more? It may. “But what he did was effective.” Saturday’s event will be the first time since 2016 that an incumbent president has attended dinner, a glamorous affair that has become a key element of Washington’s political order. Trump rejected the event for all four years and even barred staff from attending the last time the rally took place. Julian Zelizer, an American political historian at Princeton University, said Biden was important and symbolic in signaling the return of a president to attend dinner. “I think doing this is a way of giving oneself a level or just showing: I support what you do, even if there are limits to how much you hear from me,” he said. The president can use his speech at dinner to emphasize the importance of events and journalism in a democracy, which could be seen as a conversation with Trump. “We have the by-elections coming, we have several deniers of the truth on the ballot and an important message that can be passed is that truth matters, that understanding history matters, that we must believe in facts and not lies if we want to. to move forward as a country, “said Basil Smikle, Democratic general and director of Hunter College’s public policy program. Biden has lost his temper with a few reporters and in a hot microphone called Fox News White House correspondent Peter Duchess a “stupid bitch son.” Overall, however, he had a much less militant approach to the press than Trump, who constantly fought with journalists. Trump has also been involved in regularly lengthy and competitive back-and-forth with reporters at the Oval Office and the White House south lawn – while Biden was less accessible. The limited commitments are widely seen as an attempt by the White House to keep Biden, who may be prone to blunders and unwritten remarks, in the message. “A president who is prone to blunders makes fewer mistakes if he is not able to speak to the media so that the blunder does not become history,” Smikle said. “Strictly controlling the message means controlling it strictly as well.” Biden has appeared in major television interviews with CBS, NBC and ABC and has appeared in town halls with CNN. Only two of his interviews since taking office last year have been in print – one with New York Times columnist David Brooks and another with The Atlantic. Both interviews took place in the first half of last year. Biden gave a press conference in January that appeared to be aimed at criticizing for allowing less access. He may also have sent a message of resilience, as the president spent 120 minutes asking questions about what is believed to be the largest press conference in White House history. As vice president, Biden had a different relationship with the press. Every summer at the Naval Observatory, he hosted the Biden Beach Boardwalk Bash for the Press Corps, often chasing journalists and their children with water guns. He also had frequent record-breaking conversations with journalists at events and dinners where he was known to express his views on any political issue. He would cover news in interviews, including 2012, when he voiced support for gay marriage on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” Zelizer argued that Biden may be a pro-press president and not give many interviews, but it is a dangerous balance. “I think they can coexist. “We just came out of the presidency when the press was attacked as an institution on an ongoing basis and you obviously do not hear anything about it,” he said. “It contains a difficult line.” “He is trying to be one of the presidents, at least now, who is limited to what he is going to give you. On the other hand, he tries to say that he supports the press. “You have to walk this line and you have to see if it gets to a point where the press says it is very limited.” Biden’s appearance at the rally will be even more remarkable as he comes during the COVID-19 pandemic, which has halted plans for the annual dinner for the past two years. Biden has received COVID-19 vaccines and booster doses, but his age has raised some questions about his involvement in dinner and other large gatherings. Vice President Harris tested positive for COVID-19 earlier this week and is currently working away from home. The British Conservative MP has been suspended for claiming that Jill Biden presents works of art of military children in a new exhibition Psaki said Biden would not attend the event dinner and would probably wear a mask when not speaking, as the White House is trying to limit its exposure to the virus. Barbara Perry, director of presidential studies at the University of Virginia Miller Center, said attending dinner this year could easily work in Biden’s favor. “It was such a historic moment in the history of the presidency that a president who would not come because of his completely rival relationship with the press, calling them enemies of the state and then hitting COVID,” he said. “This is another good stage, if used properly, for the president himself who serves but also for the foundation.”
