President Joe Biden wrapped up his first official news conference as president without taking a question from Fox News correspondent Peter Doocy, in what appeared to be a snub to the network.
Back in the studio after the event, the reaction from the assembled hosts and commentators noted the “nice and polite” tone of questions from the journalists who were called upon, and said that they didn’t press the president in their follow-ups.
Appearing on camera from outside the White House, Mr Doocy held up a “binder full of questions” that he had ready, complaining that most of the topics he had prepared were not covered at the event.
The chyron beneath Mr Doocy read: “Biden snubs Fox News during first news conf.”
Mr Doocy specifically mentioned he wanted to ask about the transformation of the economy and the origins of Covid-19.
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Noting that Mr Biden was up at the podium alone, when in the past in Wilmington, Delaware, he has had an aide nearby to pick out reporters to ask questions, Mr Doocy said: “Today, it was Biden, with the list, and once they got through about an hour and 20 minutes, he was done.
“I’m not sure if that was the end of the list. If we were on it, he did not make it down that far.”
Mr Doocy confirmed that press secretary Jen Psaki and head of communications Kate Bedingfield were present in the room during the press conference, and he suspected they were monitoring reaction online to the president’s answers.
Panel member Dana Perino, the former White House press secretary to George W Bush, said that she would have advised the president to take a question from Mr Doocy.
She added that she believed that Mr Biden could have given answers on the topics the Fox News correspondent had prepared.
“Why make Peter Doocy a story?” she asked. “Just take his question and move on.”
On the performance of the other White House correspondents, the consensus of the panel was that while most had asked specific questions regarding migrants at the border, foreign policy, and the filibuster, their follow-ups to “vague” answers had been soft.
There was however particular praise for Kristen Welker of NBC News for her questioning on transparency regarding migrant facilities at the border and media access, pushing for a timeline.
Joe Concha, politics and media correspondent for The Hill, joined the panel and described the performance of most of the press corps as a “disgrace” saying that the “outrageous” things the president said, “demanded to be pressed on”.
He agreed that Ms Welker had performed well, but excoriated Yamiche Alcindor of PBS for what he described as “advocating”, “bias”, and “activism” in her questions.
On the snubbing of Mr Doocy, Mr Concha suggested a question to the White House might be: “Why are you so afraid of a rookie White House correspondent?”
