Media Coverage of Presidential Events

thing I'm sure of, the press cares more about the press than

anything else.

That after the White House Correspondents' Dinner-

Right

... that they didn't come in there to kill the

press, they came in to kill the

president, but all we heard about was the personal experiences of

the press people in the room. Because somehow, they, uh, they were,

they were more important. Same, same thing with the air- aircraft in

Ankara. That, uh, the,

the presidential pool saying, "Oh, they, we were so

vulnerable." They were th- there to kill the President of the United

States of

America, and the Secret Service made a decision.

So, you know, again, one thing I am sure is that this will be

covered by the, by the press. And, you know, I think we,

the, we could get back to something, uh,

that is a little more, uh,

I can't even remember which network it is, fair and balanced.

Traveling. The, I, I don't know much about it.

I, I wasn't in the Oval.

But in general, do you think-

But w- I was in the Oval when it happened, but I think we have to get, uh, when we

talk about equilibrium, clearly for the legacy media,

the equilibrium is so far out of kilter.

Because the, what the, what group is one of the few that

is least, less popular than the US Congress?

Right.

Legacy media. And why is that? Because of the perceived bias.

So the American people deserve good reporting. I couldn't agree more.

Right.

Uh, but, you know-

But-

... we, we'll see, we'll see where, we'll see where this goes.

Mr. Secretary, stop, stop the presses.

All, all the different presidents that, it...

And, and I will grant you that I think maybe Republican presidents,

it, it

historically have had maybe a, a tougher time with mainstream media.

But you've got Fox News that, that has been all over Democratic, uh, uh,

presidents. I, I just don't,

I just don't think this is something we, we, that will last in this country.

We don't do this, uh, in this country.

Yeah, you know, I, I a- again, we'll see.

This president has been the most transparent president in history.

He's answered more... I think he likes to answer questions, too.

That's why I don't... A- and I understand, believe me, that he feels that, that

he has been unfairly treated, uh, by the media.

But I, a- and, and I think he finally got to a point

where sometimes he

just, he just says, "Okay, enough." But, but it, I think there's gotta

be an off-ramp that the administration is looking for here.

Yeah, yeah. We'll, we'll see. May- may- maybe it's a, it's a change in coverage of

the White House. You know, 'cause some, some of these reporters, they, uh, they,

they just don't do their job well. Uh, we, we'll have something and then they,

they'll ask some crazy question.

And I know-

You know

... you, you have said that you're, you're here for policy.

You don't like, you don't wanna l- any, uh, uh, palace drama,

and with, w- and you called swamp creatures and thing.

I understand all that, but that's the way...

You can't control the, the, the, the, the press, right?

Well-

The press is gonna press.

Yeah, well, Joe, you know-

The press is, the media is gonna media.

Joe, you know, the one thing-