Traditionally, a new president does not give a state of the union speech right after his inauguration. If a new president speaks to Congress this time of year, the idea is that he hasn’t been president long enough to address the state of the union.
Anyway that’s my understanding of why the media is jot calling this a state of the union. Obama similarly spoke to Congress in Feb 2009, and that also was not considered a state of the union, because he had just taken office in Jan 2009.
Thank you for your reply. I thought it might have to do with it being so soon after the inauguration but only remember it being called the State of the Union speech.