President Joe Biden lamented the “exceedingly small” number of people tuning in to mainstream media outlets warning journalists that they have a “tough job” ahead in a message for “worried” Americans.
The president addressed journalists who asked him whether he had a message for Americans “worried about the future this holiday season.” Biden’s response was less than optimistic.
My message is to just remember who we are. Look, you’ll have a very tough job. I’m not being solicitous, a really tough job. Think about it… I remember a couple weeks ago that surveyed done how people they feel about where they are, 62 percent felt they’re doing pretty well. Asked what they about the direction of the country, only 35 percent said we’re moving in the right direction. I think there is an explanation for that.
Pivoting, Biden reflected on news coverage and collapsing audience numbers:
This is not a criticism of the press, you know me too well. When you turn on the television, [people] don’t see a lot of good news, even stuff that is good news doesn’t seem to sell very well. And so when you turn on TV, everything looks bad. Everything! And now you have to deal with the exceedingly small number of people watching mainstream television and reading the newspapers. I forget the number, you’d know better than I would but the numbers are way down. So where, where do you get your news?
How do we know [you’re hearing is not] what you’re just we looking for as opposed to what’s [really] happening… not because of you… I’m not being critical of the press.