Biden Reportedly Urged US Media in Private Meeting to Cover Administration More Favorably

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - US President Joe Biden in a private meeting with the media pushed reporters to cover his administration more favorably, Politico reported, citing multiple sources familiar with the off-the-record discussion.

Biden during his session with the media criticized the quality and tone of their coverage of the administration, the report said late on Wednesday. Biden pushed journalists to focus more on areas in which he believes the administration has seen success, such as the job market.

According to the outlet, the president and his family are growing increasingly frustrated that he is not getting the kind of generally more positive coverage that they believe he deserves, and that too much attention is focused on staff turnover and low approval ratings rather than a robust jobs market and America's relatively strong economic recovery.

Biden and his team are experimenting with new strategies to change the dominant storylines, in addition to privately pressing reporters. Attempts to recast the narrative around concerns such as inflation are among them. In recent days, his staff published opinion pieces under the president's byline in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, aiming to communicate his foreign policy vision and roadmap to decrease consumer costs.

More to those efforts, the White House has recently used celebrity endorsements to improve the administration's image. Visits by Korean pop group sensation BTS and Oscar-winning actor Matthew McConaughey have resulted in significant increases in media coverage.

Biden was even reportedly set to make his second visit to a late-night show since taking office, and his first in-person, on Wednesday on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!"

The White House has previously dismissed criticism of Biden’s press accessibility, arguing that Biden often engages spontaneously with reporters to take questions and composes opinion pieces to outline his agenda, the report added.

It took Biden more than two months - the longest time of any American president in decades - to give his first full press conference. In addition, he has often been the object of ridicule for frequent gaffes or even embarrassing moments, such as when the president allegedly tried to "shake an invisible hand," apparently losing his way getting off the stage after a speech.

Biden’s job approval rating stands at 38%, a small decline from 39% approval last month, according to a Marist Poll released on Thursday.