The New York Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger said the White House is “extremely upset” with unflattering coverage of President Joe Biden in regard to concerns about his age and low approval numbers.
In an interview with the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, which was published online on Monday, Sulzberger stressed the need to keep tabs on Biden as well as former President Donald Trump as they both run for a second term.
“We are going to continue to report fully and fairly, not just on Donald Trump but also on President Joe Biden,” Sulzberger said. “He is a historically unpopular incumbent and the oldest man to ever hold this office. We’ve reported on both of those realities extensively, and the White House has been extremely upset about it.”
Biden’s approval numbers have, on average, hovered in the upper 30s since early November while more than half of poll respondents disapprove of his job in office. His age — 81 — and tendency to make gaffes has spurred anxiety about Biden’s ability to lead effectively in a second term.
The New York Times has published reports over the past several weeks and months blaring headlines such as “Democrats in Key States Worry Biden Could Be a Drag on Their Races,” “Why the Age Issue Is Hurting Biden So Much More Than Trump,” and “Eight Words and a Verbal Slip Put Biden’s Age Back at the Center of 2024.”
Former New York Times public editor Margaret Sullivan recently suggested Sulzberger ought to urge editors to lay off coverage and commentary on Biden’s age while the White House criticized members of the media for how they tackled special counsel Robert Hur’s report that found the president had memory issues.
Sulzberger argued that keeping a focus on Biden should happen regardless of how many stories need to be written about Trump as he faces a bevy of high-profile criminal and civil cases, among other issues, while they both campaign for the White House.
“We are not saying that this is the same as Trump’s five court cases or that they are even. They are different,” Sulzberger said. “But they are both true, and the public needs to know both those things. And if you are hyping up one side or downplaying the other, no side has a reason to trust you in the long run.”
New York Times columnist Jamelle Bouie, who has argued Trump has shown cause to be more concerned about his mental state than Biden’s condition, told Fox News that he doubts there is an “ideological turnaround happening” at the newspaper because there are “too many ‘true believers'” on payroll.
“This sort of short-term criticism of Biden is not likely to be significant or long-lasting unless the president has another obvious public setback and national pressure builds to replace him altogether as the party nominee,” Bouie said.