Yes, the Media Covered for Biden

It wasn't just staffers and strategists.

The mainstream media's failure to swiftly cover former President Joe Biden's cognitive decline was again a topic of conversation this week, after Axios reporter Alex Thompson gently chided fellow journalists during his remarks at the White House Correspondents' Dinner.

The 2024 dinner, which I attended, was a muted affair when compared with previous years: The evening's preplanned entertainment, comedian Amber Ruffin, was canceled in advance, and President Donald Trump declined to participate. Thompson thus attracted most of the headlines; accepting an award for his own reporting, he conceded that the press corp was far too deferential to Biden's inner circle on the topic of the president's fitness for office.

"President Biden's decline and its cover-up by the people around him is a reminder that every White House, regardless of party, is capable of deception," said Thompson. "We, myself included, missed a lot of this story. And some people trust us less because of it."

"We bear some responsibility for faith in the media being at such lows. I say this because acknowledging errors builds trust, and being defensive about them further erodes it. We should have done better."
My thoughts at the WHCA dinner on covering Biden. pic.twitter.com/V16yQkPh5n

— Alex Thompson (@AlexThomp) April 27, 2025

Thompson's frankness garnered polite applause at the dinner. But not everyone has been so willing to admit error. Consider Chuck Todd, former host of NBC's Meet the Press program, who was unusually strident when tackling this subject on Chris Cillizza's podcast this week.

.@chucktodd went OFF on the "virtue signaling" of reporters who play into the Trump narrative of a cover-up of Biden's health by the media pic.twitter.com/VUCYsz4K1r

— Chris Cillizza (@ChrisCillizza) April 28, 2025

"I refuse to accept this stupid premise because it's a manufactured right-wing premise to stain the media….There are MSNBC and CNN pundits that absolutely carried water for Joe Biden, but they're not journalists, they're former strategists," said Todd. "This is an attempt by some to virtue signal, it's pitting different news organizations against each other."

Distinguishing mainstream media pundits from mainstream media journalists is not as easy as Todd suggests. Cable news is full of programs that mix news and opinion and feature perspectives that straddle this line. For instance, how should we classify MSNBC host Jen Psaki? Journalist? Pundit? Ex-Biden White House staffer? All three things?

But the fact of that matter is, no matter how you tally the score, mainstream personalities—journalists, commentators, etc.—either missed the story of Biden's cognitive decline or were hesitant to look into it too closely. And when anti-Biden commentators really started venting about how old and out of it the president appeared on camera, mainstream media didn't just ignore the story: They adopted the framing of Biden's defenders and pushed the idea that conservatives were making it all up.

Lyin' About Biden

In June 2024, when Biden's appearances at a slew of public events were raising questions, the media ran headline after headline berating Republicans for trying to make this a thing. The Washington Post repeatedly slammed "misleading videos" purporting to show Biden flailing. And The New York Times similarly chose the word "misleading" for its headlines on this subject. 

For what it's worth, a few weeks earlier, The New York Times had actually published an article with the following headline: "For Joe Biden, What Seems Like Age Might Instead Be Style." Perhaps the art critic of The New York Times is not, strictly speaking, a reporter—but he isn't an ex-Biden strategist, either.

NBC News, Todd's own former network, engaged in much the same defensive behavior. News reporters at many mainstream organizations largely handled the Biden age questions in a manner that accorded with how the White House wanted them handled.

Todd is not wrong that the American people should reserve a great deal of anger for the actual Biden staffers, strategists, and Democratic Party leaders who were clearly aware of Biden's cognitive decline and tried to cover it up. These folks have utterly discredited themselves. But it's fair to say that much of the media went along for the ride.

This Week on Free Media

I am joined by Amber Duke to discuss Biden's decline, Pete Buttigieg, deportations, 60 Minutes, and biased news coverage.

 

Worth Watching

Once more the Sith will rule the galaxy! Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith has returned to theaters for its 20th anniversary. This is the third film in the Star Wars prequel trilogy, and it has always been my favorite of all Star Wars films. Until recently, that would have been considered a hot take; the prequel movies, Revenge included, were frequently derided by critics who misliked some of the cheap-looking CGI and wooden dialogue. They aren't necessarily wrong about any of that, but who cares? For Star Wars fans of a certain age—by which I mean my age—the prequels were the Star Wars films we grew up with, and we love them.

Today, a quarter century after their initial release, the prequels are enjoying something of a critical reappraisal. For one thing, Disney so ruined Star Wars with its truly dreadful sequel trilogy that even prequel haters are looking back at George Lucas' creation with something approaching fondness. At least he tried to tell a compelling story—with, you know, a semi-original plot—which is more than can be said for J.J. Abrams.

Anyway, Revenge is so, so great. I could go on and on about why I love it, but the core reason: Emperor Palpatine, portrayed with Shakespearean brilliance by veteran stage actor Ian McDiarmid, who nimbly shifts from subtle, Iago-esque manipulations to all-out malevolence and insanity. Even Mr. Plinkett, who gave Revenge one of the most negative movie reviews of all time, nevertheless concedes that "the emperor is just so wonderful anyway it doesn't matter." I also must salute Hayden Christensen, who had a really, really difficult job: Lucas did not write Anakin Skywalker to be particularly likable, but Christensen managed to wring some real pathos out of the role.

One other note in its favor: In my experience, Revenge has become by far the most frequently quoted Star Wars film, spawning more great memes than I can keep track of.