It will come as no surprise to conservatives or anyone willing to think critically and fairly that the Biden White House enjoys a cozier relationship with the mainstream media than the Trump administration did. Fawning coverage of the White House's new cat that distracted attention from Biden's crises is a great case in point. The way in which mainstream outlets go after Biden's critics is another example, and one that we at Townhall have experienced and watched unfold in real-time — as we reported.
But thanks to a late-breaking story from POLITICO on Wednesday, it looks like there are even more symbiotic relationships at play between the White House press shop and supposedly independent fact-checkers or unbiased mainstream outlets.
In which the White House colludes with The New York Times to craft and shape political narratives. https://t.co/jjx86sickv
— Kevin McMahon (@Kevin__McMahon) March 23, 2022
Here's what Alex Thompson and Max Tani reported:
Over the past month, the White House’s press shop has repeatedly promoted stories from The New York Times’ fact-checker, LINDA QIU.
Biden cited a Qiu piece himself earlier this month when he addressed House Democrats in Philadelphia. “Headline fact checker in the New York Times: “Republicans Wrongly Blame Biden for Rising Gas Prices,” he said, reading the headline of the piece. “And it goes on to explain why gas prices are so high.”
Many members of the president’s press team have also become Qiu content boosters in recent weeks.
On March 10, deputy press secretary ANDREW BATES tweeted out the same Qiu fact check on why “Republicans Wrongly Blame Biden for Rising Gas Prices,” adding a touch of his own commentary. “The only way to be straight with readers is to include this context,” Bates noted.
Press secretary JEN PSAKI shared the same piece, noting “FACT CHECK on GOP.”
On Monday, Bates shared another story by Qiu. “@nytimes Fact Check: ‘Attacks on Judge Jackson’s Record on Child Sexual Abuse Cases Are Misleading’ Hawley and Blackburn ‘have taken the judge’s remarks and sentencing decisions out of context, distorting her record,’” he tweeted.
POLITICO does note that "Not all of Qiu’s fact checks have been heralded by the White House," as seen in her piece: "Biden’s Inaccurate Claims in Defending Afghanistan Withdrawal," but that was last August, apparently before Qiu decided to play nice with the White House and go from supposedly independent fact-checker to a Biden clean-up crew member.
Like mentioned previously, it's a symbiotic relationship: the White House gets to hit back at critics with supposedly impartial judgements on what is true and what isn't, and the writer and outlets running the fact checks get increased traffic and attention thanks to the most powerful office in the world.
Some of Qiu's other recent pieces that sought to vindicate the White House or attack Biden's critics include, as listed by POLITICO, “Theory About U.S.-Funded Bioweapons Labs in Ukraine Is Unfounded” and “Explaining the Claim That the Biden Administration Is Funding ‘Crack Pipes.’”
It will also come as no surprise that, as the report notes, Qiu ended up at The Times by way of... PolitiFact — home of supposedly independent fact-checkers who, as Townhall discovered, have already been caught taking cues from Biden's staff and are notorious for turning a blind eye to dubious statements from liberals while waging a vendetta against conservatives.
Back in December, Townhall tweeted a video clip of President Biden saying that he was going to make sure Americans were paying their "fair share" for gas in addition to Biden's usual rambling. The clip picked up steam at which point Mike Gwin — the White House's rapid response director — lashed out and baselessly accused Townhall of "lazy, deceptive, editing" that Gwin claims was done "to omit that the President was noting falling gas prices." Except of course, that isn't what happened and Biden's full quote was included in the video.
But after the Biden lackey made his false claim, PolitiFact conveniently decided to fact-check Townhall's video, asking our team for an explanation and citing the White House as the source of their scrutiny. How convenient.
What POLITICO's story reveals is that, in addition to PolitiFact's current staff taking cues from the White House, it sure looks like this PolitiFact alum at the Gray Lady has jumped on the Biden regime bandwagon in return for added attention for her work.