NYT Executive Editor Says They've Stayed on Biden's Mental Acuity

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This is rich. We’ve already covered CNN asking itself the complicated question, why didn’t the mainstream media look into President Joe Biden’s mental acuity before the debate? The answer seemed to be that because accusations of Biden slipping came from right-wing media, lefty journalists were “turned off” by the story. CNN’s Hadas Gold wrote:

The White House press shop has also been very “aggressive” and “fairly successful” in mitigating coverage of concerns over the president’s age, said another White House reporter who works for a different publication.

“[B]erating reporters who bring them reporting about age concerns, bemoaning that it’s all anyone writes about (clearly, it’s not) and often attacking pieces after they run,” the reporter told CNN. “I think that’s left some folks to conclude that these stories are too painful to report or that they should pick their spots more. It’s clear the age stories that have angered the White House (and the liberal Twittersphere) the most.”

Just two weeks ago, the New York Times ran a piece on how Republicans were using deceptively edited videos to make Biden appear old and frail. Then, a day ago, it published a piece on Biden’s “lapses,” which have increased according to insiders.

New York Times executive editor Joe Kahn put out a statement Wednesday insisting that the Times had documented Biden’s age-related challenges in multiple, industry-leading articles:

New York Times Executive Editor Joe Kahn today sent out a note to staffers that included these thoughts about the newspaper’s role in covering Biden’s age: pic.twitter.com/aNnTwUwcvD

— ErikWemple (@ErikWemple) July 3, 2024

The White House press shop has also been very “aggressive” and “fairly successful” in mitigating coverage of concerns over the president’s age, said another White House reporter who works for a different publication.

“[B]erating reporters who bring them reporting about age concerns, bemoaning that it’s all anyone writes about (clearly, it’s not) and often attacking pieces after they run,” the reporter told CNN. “I think that’s left some folks to conclude that these stories are too painful to report or that they should pick their spots more. It’s clear the age stories that have angered the White House (and the liberal Twittersphere) the most.”

New York Times executive editor Joe Kahn put out a statement Wednesday insisting that the Times had documented Biden’s age-related challenges in multiple, industry-leading articles:

New York Times Executive Editor Joe Kahn today sent out a note to staffers that included these thoughts about the newspaper’s role in covering Biden’s age: pic.twitter.com/aNnTwUwcvD

— ErikWemple (@ErikWemple) July 3, 2024