Reporting on the president鈥檚 acuity: It鈥檚 harder than it looks
鈥淚t鈥檚 clear that the best news reporters in Washington have failed in the first duty of journalism: to hold power accountable.鈥澨�
That鈥檚 not a Republican lawmaker, pundit, or Fox News. It鈥檚 former New York Times Executive Editor Jill Abramson handing down a scathing indictment听of the news media听for allowing the Biden White House to perpetrate a 鈥渕assive cover-up鈥� of President Joe Biden鈥檚 declining abilities. 鈥淪hame on the White House press corps鈥� for failing to pierce 鈥渢he veil of secrecy surrounding the President,鈥澨�.
But reporting on something like a president鈥檚 mental fitness is not as easy as it may look to outsiders 鈥� or even insiders. Legacy news outlets such as The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and Washington Post听听Mr. Biden鈥檚 physical decline and raised concerns about his age and mental acuity 鈥撎�the Monitor included. But the press corps has also been fighting limited access to the president and layers of denials from the administration and surrogates that make it hard to turn personal observations and off-the-record whispers into a spear of reportable fact sharp enough to pierce that veil.听
Why We Wrote This
The White House press corps has been criticized for lack of transparency around President Joe Biden鈥檚 mental faculties. But it鈥檚 a hard story to cover, given limited access and sensitivity about ageism.
鈥淵ou can鈥檛 act on suspicion,鈥� says Martha Joynt Kumar, a longtime presidential scholar who keeps detailed logs of presidential press availability. 鈥淵ou really want hard information.鈥�
Press conferences: Biden 37, Trump 99
Getting that information from this White House has proved particularly difficult, reporters say. As with other presidents, much of what Mr. Biden communicates verbally is from teleprompters.听But he lags far behind听his predecessors听in unscripted press conferences and one-on-one reporter interviews at this point in his presidency. Thursday鈥檚 press conference on the heels of the NATO summit in Washington was his 37th听 compared with Presidents Donald Trump (99), Barack Obama (73), George W. Bush (82), Bill Clinton (127), and George H.W. Bush (135), according to Ms. Kumar鈥檚 count.听
President Ronald Reagan held fewer 鈥� 25 鈥� but they were all solo, often lengthy appearances, while only about one-third of Mr. Biden鈥檚 have been solo. On Thursday, the president stood alone and took questions for more than 50 minutes. He made a few noticeable flubs 鈥� referring to Kamala Harris as 鈥淰ice President Trump,鈥� just as earlier that day he called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy 鈥淧resident Putin,鈥� before immediately correcting himself. But he also showed听a strong command of foreign policy, giving in-depth, nuanced answers.
President Biden has also given far fewer interviews than other presidents, though the pressure is on to do more since his dismal June 27 debate performance. NBC鈥檚 Lester Holt will sit down with the president for an interview Monday 鈥� the first day of the Republicans鈥� nominating convention.听
The White House points out that President Biden has had hundreds of unscripted, informal exchanges with reporters. Indeed, he tops other presidents on Ms. Kumar鈥檚 scorecard except for Mr. Trump, who, despite his railing against the media establishment, was keen to talk with reporters.听
Why reporters were also 鈥渟tunned鈥� by debate
At the same time, Mr. Biden鈥檚 less formal Q&A鈥檚 are often in noisy places 鈥� with reporters shouting questions from a distance as he walks to or from his whirring helicopter or from their spot under the humming engines of Air Force One. They struggle to hear, and some replies are one-word answers.
鈥淩eporters have been pressing for a long time for more day-to-day access 鈥� to be in the same room with the president,鈥� says an experienced White House reporter who would only talk on background. The paucity of unscripted settings has made assessing Mr. Biden鈥檚 capabilities more difficult for the press corps, says the reporter, adding, 鈥淢ost of the people I talked to were stunned by what happened on debate night.鈥澨�
Members of the White House press corps point particularly to the difference between reporting on a president鈥檚 physical condition 鈥� such as Mr. Biden鈥檚 gait 鈥� and reporting on more subjective听health issues, including mental fitness. Journalists witness changes incrementally, and are wary of being accused of ageism.听鈥淭his is not a black-and-white question,鈥� says another longtime White House journalist.
At the same time,听鈥淚nsiders in the Biden White House have not been forthcoming with concerns about his stamina or performance,鈥� according to the first听reporter. Instead, administration officials have frequently responded to media inquiries by insisting that the president is fully engaged and on top of everything.
They dismissed independent counsel Robert Hur鈥檚 characterization of the president as a 鈥渨ell-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory鈥� as a Republican hit job . When asked about verbal miscues, advisers cite the president鈥檚听stuttering problem, which he struggled with as a child. 鈥淣one of us have an ability to examine the president or gauge anything other than our time in front of him,鈥� this听reporter says.
FDR, JFK, Reagan, and Trump
Other White Houses have kept a wrap on the president鈥檚 health, from Franklin D. Roosevelt before his last election, to John F. Kennedy, to Ronald Reagan and the seriousness of his condition after he was shot. Although Mr. Reagan wasn鈥檛 diagnosed with Alzheimer鈥檚听until five years听after he left office, a 1984 debate with Democrat Walter Mondale raised concerns about his mental health. But听Mr. Reagan听dispatched them in the next debate with a joke: 鈥淚 will not make age an issue in this campaign. I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent鈥檚 youth and inexperience.鈥澨�
That听took the issue off the table 鈥� and serious media attention with it, says Kathleen Hall Jamieson, a communications expert and听director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania. 鈥淭he press didn鈥檛 do the job it ought to have.鈥澨�
Mr. Trump, by contrast, has been bombarded with questions about his fitness for office, with a waterfall of insiders leaking their concerns about his psychological state in books and articles. He boasted he aced a cognitive , and his personal physician last year described his cognitive exams as 鈥渆xceptional,鈥� but did not say when they took place or what they involved.听
President Biden says his daily work is a cognitive test, pointing to his policy record. Indeed, while the White House has limited media access to the president, it has made administration policy experts widely available, says Ms. Jamieson. However, she says, 鈥淲hen you have questions about mental acuity, then those questions cannot be addressed by looking to the success of the policies articulated by all of the听members of the team.鈥澨�
Liberal bias?
One charge leveled at the media is liberal bias. Reporters, the accusation goes, refrained from digging too hard into Mr. Biden鈥檚 health because of a fear that it could aid in the election of Mr. Trump 鈥� a point raised by the former Times editor, Ms. Abramson.听
When asked whether liberal bias influenced the White House press corps, even subtly, against probing the president鈥檚 fitness for the job,听the first reporter听was adamant: absolutely not. 鈥淏eing able to report on such a significant factor would be a story reporters want to pursue. And we have asked questions about his health, wellness, and age for years 鈥� and the reports we鈥檝e been given, the comments coming from his team, have countered that.鈥�
Frustration over the听lack of information boiled over this week, causing a CBS News听听at White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre at Monday鈥檚 briefing for not answering questions about the president鈥檚 health and about visitor logs that showed regular visits by a neurologist to the White House. Late that night, the White House physician, Dr. Kevin O鈥機onnor,听听saying the president had not seen a neurologist 鈥渙utside of his annual physical,鈥� noting that the neurologist regularly visits the White House Medical Unit in support of active-duty military members assigned to White House operations.
Despite issues related to his foot, ankle, and spine that affect his gait, the president is a 鈥渉ealthy, active, robust 81-year-old male, who remains fit to successfully execute the duties of the Presidency,鈥� Dr. O鈥機onnor wrote in his听听this year.听He has been examined by a neurologist each year of his presidency.听At his NATO听press conference, President Biden reiterated that doctors have not asked him to take another neurological exam but he will if they ask him to.听
Aside from the annual health听review, reporters have little else official听to go on. The听longtime White House reporter says that even when Mr. Biden ran for president in 1988, he was then a 鈥渕ix鈥� of good speeches and goofy statements. 鈥淭wenty-five years later, it was not easy to tell if a garbled statement was the same old Joe or somehow a sign of slippage from age.鈥�
Looking back with the benefit of hindsight, the reporter says that 2023 had more instances for concern. 鈥淏ut reporters are always wary of getting into psychiatric reporting,鈥� including with members of Congress, the journalist says.听鈥淚t鈥檚 not something we feel particularly qualified to write.鈥�
