The White House is reportedly unhappy with the media coverage of President Biden and has embarked on a mission to change that, according to a report late Tuesday.
CNN reported that three top White House officials are secretly meeting with major news outlets to persuade them into more favorable coverage of the president.
The officials also are seeking positive stories about job creation, the economy and the supply chain, arguing the economy is in better shape than it was last year, according to the report.
The White House officials attending the meetings are said to be National Economic Deputy Directors David Kamin and Bharat Ramamurti along with Ports Envoy John Porcari. While CNN did not name any of the outlets they met with, it did say that they’ve spoken with anchors, producers and reporters.
The meetings follow last week’s op-ed by Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank complaining about the “unrelenting negative” coverage of Mr. Biden. Mr. Milbank cited analysis culled from artificial intelligence comparing news articles about Mr. Biden during the first 11 months of 2021 to coverage of former President Donald Trump during the first 11 months of 2020.
“The findings … confirmed my fear: My colleagues in the media are serving as accessories to the murder of democracy,” Mr. Milbank wrote. “After a honeymoon of slightly positive coverage in the first three months of the year, Biden’s press for the past four months has been as bad as — and for a time worse than — the coverage Trump received for the same four months of 2020.”
The column was disseminated by White House officials, including Chief of Staff Ron Klain, who posted the column on Twitter. Other White House officials who shared the column included White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates and White House senior associate communications director Matt Hill.
