Axios reporter accuses media of protecting up Biden’s well being at White Home Correspondents’ Dinner

[ad_1] Journalist Alex Thompson known as out the press for failing to correctly report on former President Joe Biden’s declining well being on the White Home Correspondents' Dinner on Saturday.

Thompson, a reporter for Axios, accepted the White House Correspondents’ Association’s Aldo Beckman Award for Total Excellence in White Home Protection. His reporting carefully documented Biden’s disastrous debate efficiency towards President Donald Trump , the occasions main as much as it, and Biden’s eventual choice to exit the race. In his acceptance speech, Thompson acknowledged that the press fell brief in protecting the story of Biden's decline.

"Being fact tellers additionally means telling the reality about ourselves. We, myself included, missed numerous this story," Thompson mentioned, talking earlier than a room of journalists from main information shops.

He added, "President Biden's decline and its cover-up by the folks round him is a reminder that each White Home, no matter social gathering, is able to deception."

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President Biden’s disastrous debate efficiency final yr led to him exiting the race. ((Picture by Justin Sullivan/Getty Pictures) | (Picture by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP through Getty Pictures) | Picture by Justin Sullivan/Getty Pictures))

Following Biden’s withdrawal from the race, a number of journalists admitted they'd not sufficiently scrutinized the president’s health . Considerations mounted after Biden’s debate performance , when viewers famous his rambling solutions and raspy voice.

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Thompson mentioned the media’s failure to research and report extra aggressively on Biden’s situation contributed to rising public mistrust of journalism.

"Some folks belief us much less due to it," he mentioned. "We bear some accountability for religion within the media being at such lows. I say this as a result of acknowledging errors builds belief, and being defensive about them additional erodes it."

He concluded with a stark admission: "We must always have executed higher."

Gallup polling from October 2024 displays the erosion of belief in American establishments, together with the press. Solely 31% of Individuals reported having a "nice deal" or "honest quantity" of confidence within the media to report the information precisely.

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Thompson’s feedback come amid broader conversations about media accountability. Earlier this yr, NPR CEO Katherine Maher testified earlier than Congress, admitting the group mishandled its protection of the Hunter Biden laptop computer story in the course of the 2020 election.

"I do need to say that NPR acknowledges we have been mistaken in failing to cowl the Hunter Biden laptop story extra aggressively and sooner," Maher instructed lawmakers. She later described the dearth of protection as a "mistake."