Biden asks media to support him, and they comply.
The White House Urges Media to Intensify Scrutiny of Biden Impeachment Probe
The White House issued a memo on Wednesday instructing the press to increase its scrutiny of House Republicans’ impeachment investigation into President Joe Biden. In response, mainstream media outlets promptly complied with the directive.
Not only did the media reinforce their longstanding skepticism of GOP inquiries into Biden family corruption, but they also uncritically echoed the White House’s criticism of themselves, often explicitly agreeing with it.
NBC News reported: “In a memo to news organizations, the administration refuted seven Republican claims and labeled the impeachment inquiry as ‘all politics and no evidence.’ …
“McCarthy does not seem to have full support from his party and has faced criticism for the lack of evidence in GOP allegations against the president. His office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on [White House spokesman Ian] Sams’ memo.”
CNN stated: “While news organizations have published numerous fact checks on the matter, they have also often failed to robustly challenge the mis- and disinformation spread by Republicans in their coverage, frustrating officials in the Biden White House who believe that the news media should be doing more to dispel the lies saturating public discourse. …
“The Republican-led investigations into Biden have yet to provide any direct evidence that the president financially benefited from [his son] Hunter Biden’s overseas career.”
Axios commented: ”The White House is clearly frustrated that media outlets are not explicitly pointing out that House investigations have not uncovered any evidence suggesting impeachable behavior on [Joe] Biden’s part.”
Politico reported: “Ian Sams, the spokesman for the White House Counsel’s Office, has appeared on cable news and distributed a 14-page appendix with detailed rebuttals to Republicans’ claims. …
“The White House’s main goal is to ensure that Republican talking points do not fester in the public psyche. Biden’s team has criticized the media for not doing enough to debunk, as a close campaign insider put it, ‘lies about President Biden.’ In fact, Sams sent a memo to media organizations on this very topic. They see their role as filling that supposed void.”
Only a few journalists outside of conservative media pushed back against the White House’s attempt to intimidate them.
My latest—> Biden scolds media on how to cover his impeachment inquiry. What a bunch of bull jerky. https://t.co/RGu5WniPRn via @USATODAY
— Ingrid Jacques (@Ingrid_Jacques) September 14, 2023
From @KimberlyEAtkins in @GlobeOpinion: Biden must protect, not undermine, a free presshttps://t.co/vsEIiwFFYH
— The Boston Globe (@BostonGlobe) September 13, 2023
Meanwhile, the media were just as dismissive of the Republicans’ impeachment inquiry, announced on Tuesday, as they had been of the previous GOP investigations into the president’s involvement in Hunter Biden’s influence-peddling.
Associated Press stated: “The White House has stated that Joe Biden was not involved in his son’s business affairs. So far, despite months of investigations, Republicans have not uncovered any significant evidence of wrongdoing by the elder Biden, who frequently spoke to his son and, as vice president, attended a business dinner with his son’s associates. Hunter Biden is not a public figure.”
CNN posed the key question: “The third impeachment effort in three and a half years should be justified by whether this attempt to effectively reverse a democratic election by removing [Joe] Biden is warranted. The GOP’s failure to provide more than innuendo—that Biden corruptly used his power as vice president to profit from his son Hunter’s business ventures—suggests it is not.”
Time reported that the White House and Democratic leaders ”have been focused this week on arguing that Republicans are trying to make Biden the fourth president to be impeached without evidence to support their claims.”
PBS stated: “You have heard the Republican justification for this inquiry. Despite the lack of public evidence and no floor vote, as promised by Speaker McCarthy…”
In her New York Post column on Thursday night, columnist Miranda Devine summarized some of the evidence that her mainstream media colleagues deny exists:
Forget the bank records, shell companies, SEC complaints, sworn testimony, IRS whistleblower statements, FBI informant files, emails, texts, WhatsApp messages, photos, speakerphone calls, voicemails, White House visitor logs, Air Force Two travel logs, Joe’s pseudonymous email addresses, and a parade of Hunter’s shady foreign benefactors lining up for handshakes with Joe in Beijing, breakfasts at the VP’s residence, and dinners at Café Milano, not to mention millions of dollars in filthy foreign lucre for no discernible product or service other than access to Joe.
How has the media responded to the White House’s request for increased scrutiny of the impeachment probe, and what does this response reveal about their independence and objectivity?
Serve as a wake-up call for the media. Will they continue their pattern of downplaying and dismissing Republican investigations into the Biden family’s alleged corruption, or will they finally provide the scrutiny and coverage that the American people deserve?”
The memo from the White House requesting increased scrutiny of the impeachment probe is concerning. It raises questions about the independence and objectivity of the media, as they are expected to hold those in power accountable regardless of political affiliation. However, the media’s response to the memo only reinforces the perception of bias in their reporting.
The mainstream media’s willingness to comply with the White House’s directive is evident in their coverage of the impeachment inquiry. They have not only reinforced their skepticism of GOP investigations into the Biden family, but they have also uncritically echoed the White House’s criticism of themselves. This is a clear departure from the media’s traditional role as watchdogs who question and challenge those in power.
News outlets such as NBC News, CNN, Axios, and Politico have echoed the White House’s narrative that the impeachment inquiry is “all politics and no evidence” and that Republican investigations have failed to provide any direct evidence of wrongdoing by President Biden. While it is important for media outlets to fact-check and challenge claims made by both sides, they should do so in a fair and unbiased manner
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