By the numbers: Here’s how many interviews Biden has given compared to Obama and Trump

And Biden isn’t even keeping up the pace from his days as Vice President:

Biden is also lagging behind his pace as VP where’d he’d done at least double the number of interviews he’s done so far by this point.

He occasionally appeared on all 3 network morning shows on the same day

— Alex Thompson (@AlexThomp) October 19, 2021

We really need more reporting Mark Knoller:

Special thanks to @markknoller, a fabulous reporter who kept track of these numbers and supplied them for the piece.

— Alex Thompson (@AlexThomp) October 19, 2021

According to Thompson, the White House is doing this on purpose and feels the “only downside is the constant scolding from the press”:

The WH has calculated that the politics are better not to do lots of extensive sit downs

A WH official argued that the D.C. press is too focused on process which is not the message Biden wants to get to voters anyway

The only downside is the constant scolding from the press

— Alex Thompson (@AlexThomp) October 19, 2021

They even think the scolding could make Biden more popular:

And no voters care if reporters are mad. cud make Biden more popular.

But it’s notable that Biden has not done any extensive interviews w/ reporters from The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Associated Press, or Reuters.

Of the 10, 7 are TV

— Alex Thompson (@AlexThomp) October 19, 2021

Imagine if a Trump official had said all of this though?

The WH official argued that they preferred TV because of reach, along with obsession about process from DC reporters

The only print interviews biden has done was a joint FLOTUS People Magazine one, a David Brooks column, and @IsaacDovere’s book right after the inauguration

— Alex Thompson (@AlexThomp) October 19, 2021

And of late, he isn’t even taking these after-the-event questions, hence all the photos of Biden walking away:

Biden’s team is quick to note that he often takes questions from reporters after he does events—and he does it more often than past presidents

But they’ve not seen a need to do the many extensive 1-1’s when reporters can probe, follow up etc.

— Alex Thompson (@AlexThomp) October 19, 2021

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