Jen Psaki wants to see President Joe Biden doing more interviews with personalities like Howard Stern than the New York Times.
The MSNBC host and former press secretary dropped by The View on Monday to promote her new book Say More. Co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin at one point asked Psaki about criticism about Biden’s lack of interviews and press conferences, as well as reports Biden’s been ducking a very eager New York Times on an interview.
A recent Politico report suggested there is a “cold war” and “petty feud” between the New York Times and White House over Biden’s lack of an interview with the paper — which has sat down with every American president at least once during their term going back to FDR. The report suggested publisher AG Sulzberger “quietly” encouraged negative Biden coverage as interviews were denied. The Times called the accusations “outrageous” and untrue. They were also freshly critical of Biden.
“For anyone who understands the role of free press in a democracy, it should be troubling that the President has so actively and effectively avoided questions from independent journalists over the course of his term,” the statement read.
Asked for her advice, Psaki defended her former boss and said he should be looking to less traditional and more personal media platforms to spread his message.
“The benefit of the media environment right now — there’s a lot of challenges, but I’m going to start with the optimistic side — is that there are so many choices,” she said.
Psaki recommended a View appearance by Biden before even a traditional press conference.
“My view is he should come on The View before he does a press conference,” she said.
Psaki praised Biden’s recent interviews on the SmartLess podcast and Stern’s SiriusXM show and argued for more of that from his campaign than more traditional interviews.
She argued:
I think press conferences are important, but I also think him doing Howard Stern, that’s an interview that reached a broader audience of people. Him talking to the guys from SmartLess, which is a great podcast, so if you’re in the White House, you’re not thinking about, am I checking the box on doing the most interviews. You’re thinking about, am I doing the most I can to communicate my message to the American people. That’s who I represent. So I would say more Howard Stern, come on The View, you know, more SmartLess conversations where you’re having conversations about policy, but they’re real ones that people have in their kitchens.
Biden spoke with Stern live for over an hour and touched on a number of political and personal topics. He declared he’s ready to debate Donald Trump and also accused the media of being too soft in their coverage of Trump, something also suggested in Politico’s “cold war” report.
Watch above via ABC.
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