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Team Biden's Rigid Control of the Press
Townhall.com ^ | May 12, 2021 | Tim Graham

Posted on 05/12/2021 4:36:39 AM PDT by Kaslin

Everyone knew instinctively that the Biden White House would get enormous cooperation and positive media coverage from the "news" media, given that it follows the alleged democracy-darkening Donald Trump days. But Team Biden's control of the narrative can look more like a stranglehold.

On May 10, Politico revealed that "If you've read a quote from an administration official in a newspaper or a wire story recently, there's a good chance that the White House communications team had an opportunity to edit it first."

The Biden White House frequently demands that interviews with administration officials be conducted on the grounds of "background with quote approval," according to five White House reporters who aren't with Politico. This means that reporters submit their quotations of administration officials and the White House approves them. "The practice allows the White House an extra measure of control as it tries to craft press coverage," Politico says.

"Craft" is a more delicate word for "manipulate."

This isn't entirely new. Former President Obama apparently did it, too. Former President Trump tried, but less often. Politico suggests reporters are reluctant to say no to "background with quote approval" because it could put them at a disadvantage with their competitors. Editors who want that "insider" feel in their stories will pressure reporters to follow those grounds. Access is everything. Resistance is apparently futile.

This underlines something very important for media consumers. Be suspicious of official (and partisan) sources dictating large chunks of stories to reporters. They approve the quotes; they lecture about preferred terminology -- an "extra measure of control."

New York Magazine writer Olivia Nuzzi wrote about how the White House is now policing the language of politics. Phrases such as "border crisis" have been disparaged. Instead, the border is "challenging." Nuzzi argued that "a highly particular and rigid approach to language is a form of governing itself, just as a careless and inflammatory one was under Donald Trump."

White House press secretary Jen Psaki told Nuzzi, "We are just not going to get pulled down in the muck of right-wing-driven arguments about word choice." As usual, liberal reporters are hectored to not sound "right-wing." They are pressured not to use "crisis," and the Associated Press, one of Biden's servile outlets, apparently instructed reporters to "avoid" the word "crisis."

Nuzzi's chat with Psaki came before Psaki was interviewed on David Axelrod's podcast and admitted that the White House staff tells President Biden not to engage with reporters very much. "That is not something we recommend," she said. They prefer canned speeches and carefully curated social media messaging. They don't want Biden improvising, like the day he spoke to reporters after a round of golf and referred to the border situation as a "crisis."

Naturally, this rigid control of the press is followed by admiration. Axelrod told Nuzzi what the Biden team has accomplished: "They've effectively maximized his earnestness and decency. They've not allowed him to be in situations where he can stray." They've minimized Biden's press conferences, even though those media interrogators tell him how moral and decent he is.

This underlines that some of this control doesn't need to be enforced. As one alleged Biden insider told Nuzzi, "Biden is the most liberal president we've had -- and the public thinks he's a moderate." That ideological distortion comes naturally to liberal reporters.

So forget this notion that the press are misbehaved, ink-stained wretches and rebellious truth-tellers. In Bidenland, there are no "bombshell" revelations; there's only "landmark" legislation to "rebuild and invest in America." The sound bites almost always make Biden look like a statesman who only says the most sensible things in favor of everything that is good. The "message discipline" is palpable, and the morning and evening "newscasts" routinely sound like pleasant emanations of publicity.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: joebiden; leftwingmedia

1 posted on 05/12/2021 4:36:39 AM PDT by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin

Uh No ... the press is a willing accomplice


2 posted on 05/12/2021 4:39:12 AM PDT by no-to-illegals ( Liberals, leftists, Rinos, moslems, illegals, lamestream media. All want America to fail and die )
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To: Kaslin
They plan to spend the next 4 years like this:


3 posted on 05/12/2021 4:43:45 AM PDT by ClearCase_guy ("I see you did something -- why you so racist?")
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To: Kaslin

Ever see a communist dictator that didn’t control the press?


4 posted on 05/12/2021 4:44:21 AM PDT by Paperpusher
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To: Kaslin

“I’m your puppet
....
I’ll be wonderful, do just what I’m told
I’ll do anything for you”

https://www.google.com/search?q=i%27m+your+puppet+lyrics&oq=I%27m+your+puppet&aqs=edge.1.0l7.8172j0j1&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8


5 posted on 05/12/2021 4:44:38 AM PDT by Brian Griffin
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To: Kaslin
The entire MSM is part of this administration abomination.
6 posted on 05/12/2021 4:49:29 AM PDT by RckyRaCoCo (Please Pray For My Brother Ken.)
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To: ClearCase_guy

Baghdad Bob is in the Biden Administration.
They called a lid at 3:45pm yesterday meaning the WH press can go home and enjoy their lives. It’s the little things that create loyality.


7 posted on 05/12/2021 4:54:24 AM PDT by griswold3 (NBA/ Plumlee Ball. = poor entertainment value while insulting the audience gets you broke )
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Comment #8 Removed by Moderator

To: griswold3

What really gets me is that nobody thinks this term, “calling a lid,” is bizarre to begin with. And nobody seems to think that there’s anything disturbing about saying that the occupant of the WH needs to be suddenly withdrawn from public view and contact with others, or that this is being done because he has begun to “stray.”


9 posted on 05/12/2021 5:25:48 AM PDT by livius
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To: livius
nobody seems to think that there’s anything disturbing about saying that the occupant of the WH needs to be suddenly withdrawn from public view and contact with others

Not true. >50% of Americans know this is an abomination. But we have no voice. We've been marginalized and minimized. We elect our candidates to office but then realize they're nothing but globalist whores and pimps.

And the other <50% of voters? They don't care. As long as they can continue to murder the unborn and fags parading naked in the streets of san fransicko? Liberals are happy.

10 posted on 05/12/2021 5:56:04 AM PDT by LouAvul (Lying headlines from fake news articles written by pimps masquerading as journalists.)
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To: livius
What really gets me is that nobody thinks this term, “calling a lid,” is bizarre to begin with.

I have yet to hear an explanation of that bizarre term. Does anyone have any idea where it came from?

11 posted on 05/12/2021 7:55:56 AM PDT by zeugma (Stop deluding yourself that America is still a free country.)
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To: Kaslin

Craft” is a more delicate word for “manipulate

Indeed the media selling watermelons and calling the diamonds.


12 posted on 05/12/2021 9:19:12 AM PDT by Vaduz (women and children to be impacIQ of chimpsted the most.)
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