Imagine for a second that President Trump, even before he was elected, sent a letter to TV news anchors demanding that they adjust their editorial content so that it was more to his liking.
If that ever happened, the national newspapers would devote at least eight editorials each decrying Trump’s “authoritarian tendencies.” Jim Acosta would don his cape, and every hour on the hour he would look daringly into CNN’s camera to say in his best newsman voice, “No, Mr. President! We will not be caving to your demands!” And Dan Rather would emerge from his tomb to type out a grave Facebook message on the importance of a free press.
That’s just a hypothetical because Trump hasn’t actually done that but Joe Biden’s campaign just did and so far, there hasn’t been a peep out of the New York Times or any other national media outlet.
The Daily Beast reported Sunday night that top aides to Biden’s campaign sent a letter to addressed to “the heads of the major news and cable networks, as well as top news anchors” criticizing them for booking Trump’s lawyer, Rudy Giuliani.
The letter said that the intent of the note was “to demand that in service to the facts, you no longer book Rudy Giuliani, a surrogate for Donald Trump who has demonstrated that he will knowingly and willingly lie in order to advance his own narrative.”
This is apparently part of Biden’s strategy to blunt any interest that the press might have in that potentially corrupt arrangement his son Hunter Biden held with a gas company in Ukraine, and his own conflict of interest in dealing with it.
Last week, Politico reported that Biden’s campaign was in engaged in a “war” with the media in an attempt to divert any and all scrutiny. “It’s all designed to focus coverage squarely on allegations that Trump asked a foreign leader to investigate the Biden family — and away from the president’s attempts to highlight Biden’s son Hunter’s business activities in Ukraine,” read the report.
That game plan was on display several days ago when Biden was asked by a reporter whether he had ever spoken with his son about his international business dealings. Biden responded with an unconvincing “never” and then waved his finger in the reporter’s face while demanding that he “ask the right questions.”
Once again, imagine if it were Trump shoving his finger in a reporter’s face. CNN media avenger Brian Stelter would hold a candlelight vigil in memory of the First Amendment.
Trump calls the overwhelmingly negative, usually unfair coverage of his administration “fake news,” and we’re told that this complaint is the unraveling of democracy. Biden and his campaign make explicit demands about their coverage in an effort to control the editorial content of specific news outlets and — well, what can ya do?!
Journalists in the national media shouldn’t feel like they now have to summon new outrage over Biden’s hostility toward the free press. But maybe they could drop the act when it comes to Trump, too.
