Media Bias

As a general rule of thumb, it is considered wrong (even unethical) to send the literal questions to interviewees ahead of time. There are often circumstances where you may tell an interviewee what you plan to ask (similar to what you mentioned) but you almost always just tell them generalities, and then you'd probably keep a few questions up your sleeve.

All that said, I could certainly imagine a scenario where a public official's people demand questions be submitted ahead of time or else they won't be able to ask a question. Some news organizations will probably acquiesce to this in exchange for the soundbite or quote, particularly if they think their competitors are going to agree to it. I never worked something to the scale of a presidential press conference but it wouldn't surprise to me learn that this happens frequently. Personally, I would disagree with the practice, but it certainly puts the journalist/news organization between a rock and a hard place. They could say 'no, we won't play your game' but then all the readers/viewers will go watch the other station or read the other website that had the content. Taking too many stances like that won't pay the bills and keep the lights on.

Some of that is just speculation, though. Like I said, I'm not sure how often something like this happens and I didn't quite catch the context of this Biden presser yet. I was never asked to submit my questions in writing in the four years I was a broadcaster but I worked for a local market, nothing national. Things might be different higher up the totem pole. In general though I definitely disagree with the practice.
Do you have the same problem with it if the President's people would go to a reporter and say, "I really would like you to ask about XYZ".  Then, the reporter would also have the ability to ask follow up questions as they see fit.  And, other reporters have the ability to ask questions too. ???

 
Do you have the same problem with it if the President's people would go to a reporter and say, "I really would like you to ask about XYZ".  Then, the reporter would also have the ability to ask follow up questions as they see fit.  And, other reporters have the ability to ask questions too. ???


They can and do have personal and professional relationships with reporters, and may let their wishes be known, but it is never the reporter's job to adhere to the President's agenda. Just the opposite, really. The White House can issue tailor-made statements to its heart's content, but press conferences are were you get drilled for details, and asked the questions you'd rather avoid. That's the whole point. 

 
Do you have the same problem with it if the President's people would go to a reporter and say, "I really would like you to ask about XYZ".  Then, the reporter would also have the ability to ask follow up questions as they see fit.  And, other reporters have the ability to ask questions too. ???
For starters, I think we have to be specific with what we're talking about. I draw issue with having to submit the literal questions to be asked at a press conference, presumably under the agreement that this is the only way it'll be answered and the only format in which it can be asked. Which, on the surface, that's kind of what this situation looked like.

However, I don't have an issue with a reporter telling an interviewee the context in which they want to have an interview. That's just how reporting often works.

I also think we have to remember two of the intended relationships and purposes of a reporter, which is to hold people in power accountable and provide information to the public. It's difficult for me to fantasize a scenario that applies to your hypothetical because the president is beholden to reporters (and the public by extension), and not the other way around.

 
Several years ago I felt Tucker lost it….Became a vengeful conspiracy theorist. Maybe he was always that way, even back at CNN, and just didn’t show it. Man how far he has fallen.  He needs a mental health professional.
 

https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/03/media/tucker-carlson-text-message/index.html

“A couple of weeks ago, I was watching video of people fighting on the street in Washington,” Carlson wrote in the January 2021 text message to a producer, the New York Times reported late Tuesday. “A group of Trump guys surrounded an Antifa kid and started pounding the living s**t out of him. It was three against one, at least. Jumping a guy like that is dishonorable obviously. It’s not how white men fight. Yet suddenly I found myself rooting for the mob against the man, hoping they’d hit him harder, kill him. I really wanted them to hurt the kid. I could taste it.”

 
Several years ago I felt Tucker lost it….Became a vengeful conspiracy theorist. Maybe he was always that way, even back at CNN, and just didn’t show it. Man how far he has fallen.  He needs a mental health professional.
 

https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/03/media/tucker-carlson-text-message/index.html

“A couple of weeks ago, I was watching video of people fighting on the street in Washington,” Carlson wrote in the January 2021 text message to a producer, the New York Times reported late Tuesday. “A group of Trump guys surrounded an Antifa kid and started pounding the living s**t out of him. It was three against one, at least. Jumping a guy like that is dishonorable obviously. It’s not how white men fight. Yet suddenly I found myself rooting for the mob against the man, hoping they’d hit him harder, kill him. I really wanted them to hurt the kid. I could taste it.”
I feel like the last 5 years or so, he's simply become so big on Fox that he felt he could show his true colors and say whatever he wanted.

So, he's the same guy as before.....just more open about it because he thought he could.  And....if he opens up slowly and little by little, he drags his audience with him down the pathetic rabbit hole he went.

 
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I feel like the last 5 years or so, he's simply become so big on Fox that he felt he could show his true colors and say whatever he wanted.

So, he's the same guy as before.....just more open about it because he thought he could.  And....if he opens up slowly and little by little, he drags his audience with him down the pathetic rabbit hole he went.
He's exactly the same person. The famous interview of Jon Stewart on Crossfire is a prime example. As Jon roasts him with legitimate questions and critiques, Tucker just continues to be a smarmy jacka$$ about everything.

 
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