Michael LaRosa, former press secretary to First Lady Jill Biden, has delivered a startling critique of the Biden administration’s media strategy, accusing it of bullying journalists and tightly controlling press coverage. In a revealing interview with The Young Turks’ Cenk Uygur, LaRosa described a White House environment obsessed with narrative management and resistant to journalistic independence, Mediaite reported.
LaRosa, who served during President Joe Biden’s first years in office, claimed the administration operated with a “bunker mentality” from day one, treating the press not as a partner but as a threat to be managed. “They did bully a lot of journalists, and I think they would tell you that now,” LaRosa said. “They wouldn’t have told you at the time.”
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Despite Biden entering office with considerable media goodwill—especially in contrast to former President Donald Trump’s hostile relationship with the press—LaRosa said the White House imposed rigid interview conditions and enforced a controversial “quote approval” policy.
“There was this thing in Biden’s world about quote approval—everything had to be on quote approval,” he explained. “So you talk to a reporter, but like one person decides what the reporter can use, what quotes they can use.” This tactic allowed the administration to curate coverage, publishing only favorable or neutral statements and tightly controlling the public narrative.
LaRosa said he found the strategy troubling, particularly given his background as a former NBC producer. His concerns grew during the 2024 campaign cycle, when the Biden team was caught attempting to script interview questions for radio reporters. LaRosa recalled the incident, comparing it to practices used in the 2020 campaign.
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“I mean, you saw them get caught trying to script questions to radio reporters that summer, summer of 2024,” he said. “It was very reminiscent to me of being on the campaign in 2020.” He added that while he personally advised staff to avoid asking journalists for specific questions, the practice was already embedded in the media strategy.
Perhaps most troubling, LaRosa said, was the lack of pushback from the press. “Like why didn’t any of these reporters even in New Hampshire, and some of these small-town papers or local news, why didn’t anybody ever say anything? I thought it was so weird at the time,” he said. LaRosa’s revelations raise serious questions about the Biden administration’s approach to media transparency and press freedom during its tenure.
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