Brian Zak/Sipa Press via AP Images
Politico wrote a long report about a tense relationship between President Biden and the New York Times Joe Biden and the New York Times has strongly disagreed with the report.
Among the eye-catching revelations in Thursday’s Politico report is the suggestion that Times publisher AG Sulzberger secretly promoted negative stories about Biden, including about his age and poll numbers, as retaliation due to the president not agreeing to an interview. A spokesperson for the New York Times Times reporter.
The Times responded with a long statement, first reported by Semafor’s Max Tani.
In a statement to @semafor, a New York Times spokesperson pushes back on this, saying "the notion that any line of coverage has been ordered up or encouraged in retaliation for declining an interview, or any other reason, is outrageous and untrue." https://t.co/ALy9CKkk1u pic.twitter.com/oPzRxLkXfV
— Max Tani (@maxwelltani) April 25, 2024
“For anyone who understands the role of free press in a democracy, it should be troubling that the President has so actively and effectively avoided questions from independent journalists over the course of his term,” the statement from a spokesperson for the paper reads.
According to Politico’s reporting, Sulzberger was so focused on securing an interview with Biden that he even raised the issue during a private meeting with Vice President Kamala Harris . The Times statement disputes this, instead stating that Sulzberger has emphasized in conversations with Harris and others that Biden would be setting a “dangerous precedent” by breaking tradition and not doing an interview with the Times. The Times’s statement warns that Biden not doing an interview would be avoiding “scrutiny” and “accountability.”
The statement denies that any negative coverage was pushed as retaliation against the president.
“The idea that any particular news coverage has been requested or encouraged in retaliation for declining an interview, or any other reason, is outrageous and untrue,” it reads.
New York Times reporters Jonathan Swan and Peter Baker have also pushed back against Politico’s reporting on Sulzberger in separate X, formerly Twitter, posts.
Agreed. I’ve never heard AG say anything like that nor anyone else at the @nytimes. It's just not the way it works. AG wants us to cover this president — and every president — as fully, fairly and aggressively as we can because that's our role. That's true regardless of whether… https://t.co/4eY1T5kWrb
— Peter Baker (@peterbakernyt) April 25, 2024
“AG wants us to cover this president — and every president — as fully, fairly and aggressively as we can because that’s our role. That’s true regardless of whether we get an interview. AG takes our responsibility very seriously and is a complete straight shooter,” Baker wrote.
