NEW YORK — Joe Biden’s first presidential news conference was notable for what was missing after predecessor Donald Trump: no contentious exchanges with reporters, no Fox News and no questions about COVID-19.
The last omission was probably the least expected, considering the pandemic has killed more than half a million Americans and kept much of the country home for the past year.
Many in the news media had been impatient since Biden had not submitted to a formal question-and-answer session with reporters until his 65th day in the office. When he finally did Thursday, it was carried live on the major broadcast and cable news networks.
Before taking a question, Biden announced he was setting a new goal of having 200 million vaccine doses for the coronavirus administered during his first 100 days in office.
And that was it. None of the 10 reporters who questioned him, some on multiple topics, brought the topic up. Noting that in a tweet, Sheryl Gay Stolberg of The New York Times said the questions “suggest that coronavirus is no longer Topic A.”
“Pretty sure it is for the American people and the Biden White House,” White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain tweeted in response.
Four questioners brought up immigration and the Mexican border, while three asked about the filibuster, the arcane Senate rule that will be key to getting legislation passed. Not quite three months into office, Biden was asked whether he would run for reelection and if Vice-President Kamala Harris would be on his ticket.
Biden was occasionally direct, occasionally windy and occasionally cagey in response to questions. When a Bloomberg reporter asked specific questions about economic policy and China, Biden instead embarked on a lengthy verbal treatise on relations between the two countries.
A question about gun control devolved into a long discussion of the president’s infrastructure plans.
Some reporters, noting the unlikelihood of being called on again as Biden consulted a list for reporters to take questions from, made queries on multiple topics.
While former President Trump’s sessions with reporters sometimes included nasty exchanges, there was none of that with Biden. While he was sometimes pressed, like when NBC’s Kristen Welker tried unsuccessfully to pin Biden down on media access at the Mexican border, there was nothing notably harsh.
Trump on Thursday accused the White House reporters of throwing “softballs” to Biden. “It’s very sad to watch, actually,” he told Fox News Channel’s Laura Ingraham, adding, “Look, the whole thing is ridiculous.”
With only 10 reporters called upon, some were left out, including anyone from The New York Times. So were reporters from outlets popular with conservatives, and favourites of Trump when he took questions as president.
Newsmax’s Emerald Robinson wasn’t called upon, and no reporter from One American News Network was in the room. Fox News Channel’s Peter Doocy, who had some memorable exchanges with Biden on the campaign trail, wasn’t called upon.
That quickly became an issue at Fox, where the chyron “Biden Snubs Fox News during First News Conf” was put onscreen.
“I definitely would have told the president to call on Peter Doocy,” said Fox’s Dana Perino, a White House press secretary in George W. Bush’s administration. “Why make Peter Doocy a story? Just take his question and move on.”
Doocy, for his part, said later from the White House lawn that he had a binder full of questions ready to ask.
“Maybe next time,” he said.
David Bauder, The Associated Press
Jon Stewart blasted the media for covering the “banal” details of former President Trump’s first of four criminal trials, which began with opening statements Monday following a week of jury selection.
In his Monday night broadcast of “The Daily Show,” Stewart poked fun at the TV news media for tracking Trump’s traffic route from Trump Tower to the courtroom, compiling footage from various outlets, as they tracked each turn his car made.
“Seriously, are we going to follow this guy to court every f‑‑‑ing day? Are you trying to make this O.J. [Simpson]? It’s not a chase. He’s commuting,” Stewart said. “So the media’s first attempt — the very first attempt on the first day — at self-control failed.”
Media outlets have closely covered Trump in recent days, as he makes history as the first U.S. president to stand trial on criminal charges. Trump is also the presumptive GOP nominee for president this year.
Trump currently faces 34 criminal counts of falsifying business records in connection to reimbursements to his then-fixer, Michael Cohen, who paid adult film actress Stormy Daniels $130,000 ahead of the 2016 election to stay quiet about an alleged affair she had with the former president a decade prior. It is the first of four criminal trials Trump will face, and perhaps the only one that will go to a jury before the November election.
Stewart, in his broadcast, took aim at TV news outlets, suggesting they were covering small news alerts as significant breaking news developments.
Stewart pretended a producer was talking in his earpiece and paused midsentence, saying, “Hold on. We’re getting breaking news,” and cut to a clip from an earlier interview conducted by CNN’s Jake Tapper, who similarly cut off his guest momentarily to identify a photo displayed on screen to his audience.
“I’m sorry to interrupt. Just for one second. I apologize,” Tapper said in the clip. “We’re just showing the first image of Donald Trump from inside the courtroom. It’s a still photograph that we’re showing there. Just want to make sure our viewers know what they’re looking at.”
Stewart shot back, saying, “Yes, for our viewers who are just waking up from a 30-year coma, this is what Donald Trump has looked like every day for the past 30 years. Same outfit.”
Stewart ripped CNN again for analyzing the courtroom sketches so closely, saying, “It’s a sketch. Why would anyone analyze a sketch like it was — it’d be like looking at the Last Supper and going, ‘Why do you think Jesus looks so sad here? What do you think? It’s because of Judas?’”
“Look, at some point in this trial, something important and revelatory is going to happen,” Stewart said. “But none of us are going to notice, because of the hours spent on his speculative facial ticks. If the media tries to make us feel like the most mundane bullshit is earth-shattering, we won’t believe you when it’s really interesting.”
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‘This year will be the first time that we’ll see a global ad spend of over a trillion’ U.S. dollars, says Charles Etienne Morier
Published Apr 23, 2024 • Last updated 26 minutes ago • 5 minute read
Like their partners in the Canadian news industry, the country’s media agencies are undergoing unprecedented transformation. The National Post is holding conversations with leaders of Canada’s largest agencies on the fast-changing fundamentals. This week, Charles Etienne Morier, chief operating officer of Touché! & Omnicom Media Group Montreal, speaks to writer Rebecca Harris.
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It has dramatically changed with technological advancement and shifts in consumer behaviour. Now, more than 80% of digital ad spend is transacted through digital buying platforms, so it has become increasingly important for our workforce to have a good understanding of the algorithms and how to maximize them.
The process has changed also. It’s no longer about creating a 30-second spot and then selecting a media channel to distribute the message. We start with the audiences, the channels where we need to reach them, and then tailor a message that will be appealing. And so, we need to work even more closely with our creative partners.
And we think 2024 will change even more. It’s going to be an inflection point despite all the changes we have gone through over the last three years. This year will be the first time that we’ll see a global ad spend of over a trillion (U.S. dollars). It shows the responsibility that we have as advertisers and agencies to spend that money wisely and ensure we make every ad dollar count, and that we are engaging consumers in a way that speaks to them in an age where there’s a lot of uncertainty about how they share their data and private information.
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The team now needs to be proficient in so many areas. We used to have strategy, media buying and planning, and optimization and reporting. Now, we need to be able to help our clients navigate within this complex digital ecosystem with clean rooms (environments where brands, publishers and advertisers share data), the deprecation of cookies, and dynamic creative optimization. Our agency has changed dramatically in the sense that we offer much more depth in our services now. So, our leaders need to be proficient in being able to discuss those subjects with clients. We have a strong learning system in place and it’s part of our value, to make sure that our teams stay curious because it’s changing so much by the day.
Brands that are breaking through are able to prioritize authenticity, relevance and creativity in their messaging and their approach to media. Consumers are bombarded with messages every day and there’s ad blocking, so we have to find new ways of capturing consumer attention… We need to make ads relevant to consumers and bring more value into their lives. And leverage the data we have at our disposal to tailor the message to specific audience segments and engage the consumer in multiple touchpoints.
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We’ve been working for almost two years on educating our clients, making sure that they are prepared. So, we are doing assessments to make sure we have everything in place to prepare for the impact of the deprecation of cookies. It will change a lot for measurement because we will not be able to measure the same things the same way. We will not be able to target in the same way. But I see it as an opportunity somewhat, to be able to come back to (advertising) that is more creative and more around content and context… and more in relation to targeting the right people in the right moment instead of relying too much on the data.
Retail media (platforms that allow retailers to sell ads to brands) will be expanding. Now, the stat is one in five dollars will be spent in retail media globally and 20 per cent of the commerce ecosystem will be done online. So, it’s going to be more important to have a strong omnichannel approach and deliver a positive consumer experience.
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There’s also social commerce… There are so many influencers – there are 50 million creators globally. So how, as an agency, we’re able to harness that and power that at scale is crucial, and how we can partner with creators effectively. It’s changing a lot in media planning on that front. There is a real shift from curation to generation of content.
Television as well is changing a lot, from linear to connected TV. There is a streaming war at the moment, so we need to create new standards, overcome walled gardens (where the platform provider controls the content and data) and figure out measurement.
And obviously automation will play a bigger role. The way I see it is (artificial intelligence) will bring more value to what we do to bring smarter, faster and more effective work. For me, it’s not just about AI itself. It’s more about connected intelligence with the human at the centre of it. So, it’s how we can use the tool to amplify what we are doing.
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