For almost a decade, the media has spilled plenty of ink trying to convince us that Donald Trump is a uniquely dangerous threat to press freedom. However, now that Joe Biden is out of office, former anchor of NBC’s Today and CBS Evening News and current podcaster Katie Couric and Uncharted: How Trump Beat Biden, Harris, and the Odds in the Wildest Campaign in History author Chris Whipple can safely say that it was actually the Biden White House that was “Nixonian” in its contempt for the press.
Couric recalled on Thursday’s episode that she told Biden that she wanted to interview him, and he agreed, “So then I approached his press people. They then told me to call, and I got the runaround like there was no tomorrow. I got relegated to some guy who did—was in charge of digital interviews because it was for online and a podcast, and I asked, I wrote, [senior advisor to the president for communications] Anita Dunn personally, and I was very much stonewalled.”
She then wondered, “And now reading your book, and obviously with the benefit of hindsight, I see why. And you write that he never did interviews with the New York Times or the Washington Post. Didn't he hold fewer press conferences than any president in history?”
Whipple affirmed, “Yeah, I believe that's correct,” before Couric wondered, “So do you think the White House Press Corps and the media writ large should have been making more noise about this?”
One of the reasons why Couric is now a podcaster is because she enjoys the ability to “be an activist”—not that she let her previous jobs affect that—so it is hard to believe that she would have been banging the pots and pans on the Biden White House’s treatment of the press if it hadn’t boomeranged on them.
As for Whipple, he agreed, “Well, first of all, you used the perfect word "stonewalled" when describing the Biden White House vis-a-vis the media. I really found it to be Nixonian in its—contempt is not too strong a word for the press, the White House Press Corps. If you dared to suggest that Biden's age was an issue, they went after you. If you dared to write an op-ed that suggested that everything wasn't perfect, they would, they would close you down."
Whipple also pointed a finger at Dunn, “I think it came from Anita Dunn. I think this war her. I mean, I think she was a much more powerful figure in the Biden White House than we realized at the time. So, I would, my guess, Katie, I mean my hunch is that Biden would have done that sit-down with you, and that Dunn and the communications team shut that down in a heartbeat and said, 'no, you know, you will not be doing that.' But that's the way this White House operated."
Right now there is a lot of discourse around the situation involving the Trump White House, the Associated Press, and the Gulf of America/Mexico, which is a relatively silly controversy when compared to the president’s mental faculties. Trump also loves talking to the media and never gets credit for it. Perhaps the media should take a deep breath and gain some perspective.
Here is a transcript for the April 10 show:
Next Question with Katie Couric
4/10/2025
20 Minutes, 3 Seconds
KATIE COURIC: So then I approached his press people. They then told me to call and I got the runaround like there was no tomorrow. I got relegated to some guy who did— was in charge of digital interviews because it was for online and a podcast, and I asked, I wrote, Anita Dunn personally, and I was very much stonewalled. And now reading your book, and obviously with the benefit of hindsight, I see why. And you write that he never did interviews with the New York Times or the Washington Post. Didn't he hold fewer press conferences than any president in history?
CHRIS WHIPPLE: Yeah, I believe that's correct.
COURIC: So do you think the White House Press Corps and the media writ large should have been making more noise about this?
WHIPPLE: Well, first of all, you used the perfect word “stonewalled” when describing the Biden White House vis-a-vis the media. I really found it to be Nixonian in its— contempt is not too strong a word for the press, the White House Press Corps. If you dared to suggest that Biden's age was an issue, they went after you. If you dared to write an op-ed that suggested that everything wasn’t perfect, they would, they would close you down. And I think it came from Anita Dunn. I think this war her. I mean, I think she was a much more powerful figure in the Biden White House than we realized at the time. So, I would, my guess, Katie, I mean my hunch is that Biden would have done that sit-down with you, and that Dunn and the communications team shut that down in a heartbeat and said, "no, you know, you will not be doing that." But that's the way this White House operated.
