While accepting an award at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday, Axios reporter Alex Thompson acknowledged that he and other members of the mainstream media failed to properly report on President Biden’s declining mental acuity.
“Being truth tellers also means telling the truth about ourselves,” Thompson said as he accepted the Aldo Beckman Award for Overall Excellence in White House Coverage. “We, myself included, missed a lot of this story.”
“President Biden’s decline and its cover-up by the people around him is a reminder that every White House, regardless of party, is capable of deception,” he added.
“Some people trust us less because of it,” he said. “We bear some responsibility for faith in the media being at such lows. I say this because acknowledging errors builds trust, and being defensive about them further erodes it.”
“We should have done better,” he concluded.
While Republicans had been sounding the alarm over Biden’s health for years, Democrats and members of the media downplayed those concerns until the then-president’s disastrous debate performance brought renewed scrutiny on his mental state. Questions about his health and age ultimately led the octogenarian president to drop out of the presidential race just months before Election Day.
While Thompson offered a reflection on the media’s mistakes, WHCA president Eugene Daniels was defiant in his defense of the press corps’ work, telling the audience, “We are not the enemy of the state.”
“Our responsibility is not to align with any one party or any one of gender, but to serve the people of this country with integrity and dedication,” he said. “We care deeply about accuracy and take seriously the heavy responsibility of being stewards of the public’s trust. What we are not is the opposition.”
This WHCA dinner was different from others in that it did not feature an appearance from the president or a comedian. President Trump declined to attend the event after having also skipped out on the yearly dinner during each year of his first term.
The White House Correspondents Association canceled plans to have anti-Trump comedian Amber Ruffin, citing a desire not to focus on the “politics of division.”
Daniels sent a letter to members saying the group’s board had unanimously decided to no longer feature a comedic performance.
“At this consequential moment for journalism, I want to ensure the focus is not on the politics of division but entirely on awarding our colleagues for their outstanding work and providing scholarship and mentorship to the next generation of journalists,” Daniels wrote.
Ruffin’s hosting gig was reportedly canceled after White House Deputy Chief of Staff Taylor Budowich voiced concerns about her past rhetoric around President Trump.