Staying in close touch with the public, listening to their voices and answering their questions is a fundamental part of every U.S. administration. However, Biden‘s backtracking in this regard has raised questions. Joe Biden, pictured here, signs a series of orders in the Oval Office as he moves into the White House on Jan. 20, 2021.
By Thursday (March 4), Biden had been sworn in for 44 days. So far, however, he has not held a separate press conference. This marks the longest inaugural press conference in U.S. history for at least a century to be held at an unknown Time after the initial delay in moving into the White House.
An analysis of Biden records and a comparison by CNN White House correspondent Kevin Liptak found that in 100 years, at least 15 of Biden’s predecessors held a press conference within 33 days of taking office.
For his analysis, Liptak used the UCSB database, which keeps tabs on U.S. presidential press conferences.
Biden has often criticized former President Donald Trump (Trump) for his hostile relationship with the media. Now, Biden himself has continuously avoided the news media for weeks, which has left him open to questions from many, including Brett Bruen, the White House director of global engagement under former President Barack Obama.
Bruen said, “He talked about journalists as a critical role, but engaging with the president is really a barometer by which we judge the importance the president gives to the media.”
Bruen noted that while it may be beneficial to his team to maintain tight control over Biden’s appearances in the short term, the practice is also “counterproductive to the White House’s connection to journalists and to the president’s connection to the people.
Every U.S. president since at least 1923 has held a press conference within 33 days of his inauguration. That includes Trump, who held a conference on his 27th day in office; and Obama, who began hearing questions 20 days after arriving at the White House.
Last week, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Biden was certain he would hold a news conference, but would not commit to a specific time frame.
“He will hold a news conference, but I don’t have a date for you at this point in time,” she said.
In January, Psaki told U.S. media outlet Politico that she was “bringing truth and transparency back to the press briefing room” and said that “building trust with Americans is critical to the work we do every day in the press office and in the White House.”
When it comes to Biden’s schedule, however, transparency is a big issue.
Biden’s schedule is not posted online. In addition, the White House comment page is closed; unlike during the Trump Administration, the White House website also prohibits citizen petitions; and, the White House does not post visitor logs.
Commenting on Biden’s level of accessibility, Alex Howard, a left-leaning digital democracy programmer at the Demand Progress Education Foundation, said, “The steps they [the Biden team] have taken are welcome, but it’s not enough at this point.”
“They need to ‘show their work’ by holding cabinet meetings, disclosing information and using political capital as a way to emphasize that ‘openness by default’ is not just an option, but an obligation of the entire government. “
Biden has been deeply and rarely seen throughout the 2020 presidential election. Now, after having taken up residence in the White House, Biden still has little direct contact with the public, appearing mostly on video. Even then, the times when he does are limited.
The Biden Administration‘s governing policies and platforms are unclear to the public and not clearly explained.
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