White House calls journalism standards a ‘historic low’, compares reports on Trump and Biden

WASHINGTON, DC: The White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt led a press briefing on Monday, December 1, and criticized the dropping standards in journalism, noting that it had hit a “historic low.”

As she brought out prints of headlines from The New York Times, she drew parallels between how the outlet covered stories related to Donald Trump and Joe Biden. 

Karoline Leavitt slams ‘unequivocally false’ reporting

During the press conference, Karoline Leavitt was asked about the White House’s latest initiative, a fake news portal.

The press secretary explained that the Trump administration aimed to hold the media accountable since they had to deal with so many “fake stories” every day.

She added that some of these stories had inaccurate characterizations of meetings based on anonymous sources.

She added that people were able to call a reporter, claim to have heard something, and this would then become a headline the following day.

“And the next thing you know, it’s on the front page of The New York Times,” she added. 

The White House press secretary also said she wanted to point out a "fake news story" that she read from the same publication and the same journalist.

She said the report took "⅓ of Donald Trump’s daily calendar and schedule" and still claimed that he was "doing less than he did in his first term." Leavitt also pointed out a part saying that the president might not be “fit for the job.” 

“That is unequivocally false,” she added.

Karoline Leavitt further pointed out that the same reporter from The New York Times wrote an article about Joe Biden, which talked about him doing “100% fine after tripping while boarding Air Force One.” 

Karoline Leavitt terms Trump the ‘most accessible president’

Karoline Leavitt said that the same reporter who wrote about Joe Biden wrote that Donald Trump was not fit for the job. 

“Are you kidding me?” she asked.

Karoline Leavitt said that Donald Trump was “the most accessible president in history,” noting that the press saw him almost every day, taking meetings around the clock.

The press secretary read out another headline about Biden being healthy and compared how outlets wrote about the former and present presidents.

She said that there were not a lot of headlines like that about Trump and said all these articles were by the same correspondent for The New York Times. Responding to claims that Trump was unfit for office, Leavitt assured the press he “absolutely” was. 

“You all see that with your own eyes on a daily basis,” she added.