US President Joe Biden has criticized the media for spreading lies. At the dinner for White House accredited journalists on Saturday night, referring to conspiracy theories, he said: “Lies told for profit and power. Malicious lies about conspiracy repeated over and over again to create a cycle of anger and hatred and even violence.”
The President warned that this type of reporting has encouraged lower courts to ban books and curtail civil liberties.
Biden stuck to the tradition of making the speeches to journalists whimsical. He joked that he could be sued for defamation if he called Fox News “honest, fair and truthful.”
A free press is a pillar of a free society, not the enemy
Joe Biden, US President
In early April, the broadcaster paid voting machine manufacturer Dominion more than $787.5 million in a settlement to avoid a lawsuit for intentionally false reporting. Fox had spread that the 2020 election had been rigged with the help of the machines.
Biden also dished out against his predecessor and possible challenger in the 2024 presidential election, Donald Trump.
With regard to a lawsuit by Trump involving alleged hush money payments to a porn actress, the President said that comedian Roy Wood Jr, who was also scheduled to speak at the dinner, offered him ten dollars if he gave his speech briefly .
“That’s a change – a president being offered hush money,” Biden joked.
“A free press is a pillar (…) of a free society, not the enemy,” said Biden, obviously alluding to Trump.
He had used the term “enemy of the people” to describe journalists who had criticized his 2016 election campaign and his administration in the White House.
Trump himself had never attended the annual dinner for the White House Correspondents Association during his time as President. (Reuters)
