The White House Communications team grows anxious every time Joe Biden has to appear before the press. His continuous lapses, slipups and other symptoms of his mental decline- such as what happened during the 80th Anniversary of D-Day in Normandy, have led those responsible for managing the president's image, as well as the Democratic Party, to minimize his media exposure. Consequently, he has held the fewest press conferences since Ronald Reagan, granted the fewest interviews and took the longest to make his first appearance before journalists.

This is clear from the research conducted by Martha Joynt Kumar, professor of political science at Towson University and director of the White House Transition Project. She has studied the media interactions of different presidents since Gerald Ford. The researcher divides these into three categories: Press conferences (formal sessions in which journalists ask the president and other foreign leaders questions), interviews (exclusive for journalists) and what she calls "informal question and answer sessions" (instances in which the president answers questions from journalists after an event or something similar).

Biden, the president who has given the fewest solo press conferences

According to the study, Biden has held the fewest press conferences (as of April 30, 2024) since Ronald Reagan. In the three and a half years that he has been in office, he has only made 34 appearances before the media. Donald Trump officially spoke to the media 97 times(most of them in his last year in the White House), and Barack Obama did so 71 times. George H.W. Bush topped the list with 127 press conferences, followed by Bill Clinton, with 121. Reagan held the fewest, with just 23.

The American President Project (APP) adds another important piece of information: the number of solo press conferences versus those with additional participants. According to APP, which tracks presidential activities back to Calvin Coolidge's term starting in 1923, Biden has only made 14 solo appearances, the fewest of any president. His immediate predecessor held solo press conferences, most of them in his last year in office.

Fewer interviews, more informal meetings

The second statistic paints an even bleaker picture for Biden: he has given the fewest interviews to the media of any modern president. Biden has participated in only 118 interviews, far fewer than Trump's 327. Obama leads this category with 479 interviews. The second-lowest was George W. Bush, who gave 144 interviews while Reagan, though last in press conferences, gave 218 interviews.

However, Biden is the second president in the number of informal and spontaneous press interactions, which are unplanned and beyond the control of his communications team. These encounters rely on the president's willingness to approach the media waiting at events. Trump tops this list with 623 informal interactions, while Biden has had 570. However, these unstructured exchanges have often led to embarrassing moments or situations where Biden abruptly walked away, leaving journalists speechless and without answers.

The White House assures that it is a comprehensive and modern communication strategy

However, the White House communications team denies that this is a concealment strategy. According to the statements of Deputy Press Secretary, Andrew Bates, this is a comprehensive and modern communication strategy, according to The Washington Post.