The White House communications staff edits and approves nearly every quote from an administration official that is printed by corporate media outlets, confirming suspicions that the press operates as an arm of the Democratic Party.
President Joe Biden‘s staff demands that reporters conduct all interviews on “background with quote approval,” meaning that the journalist can include information from sources but cannot identify them or directly quote them without later approval, Politico reported.
Journalists interview executive branch officials, the White House screens their answers, and the media outlets report the state-approved propaganda to the public.
Corporate media companies thus act as glorified press-release distributors.
“The rule treats them like coddled Capitol Hill pages and that’s not who they are or the protections they deserve,” an anonymous reporter said.
Politico admits that Biden’s practice is “reminiscent of the tightly controlled Obama White House.”
New York Times reporter Jeremy Baker called it “standard practice for the Obama campaign.”
Former President Donald Trump’s White House conducted some interviews on background with quote approval, though “reporters say Trump’s team did so less frequently than Biden’s team,” according to Politico.
Supposedly the White House’s control over the media has irritated many journalists.
Peter Baker, the chief White House correspondent for the New York Times, called quote approval “a pernicious, insidious, awful practice that reporters should resist.”
The Times announced in 2012 that it had banned quote-approval.
The newspaper said the policy remains in place, but it refused to say whether its reporters had agreed to let the Biden White House edit and approves quotes.
The Associated Press likewise prohibits quote approval.
But when asked about it, Chief White House Correspondent Julie Pace pointed to an article in which the AP admits that its “reporters can conduct interviews on background and then negotiate to get certain parts on the record.”
