Axios' Alex Thompson singled out the press for underreporting Joe Biden's decline

Axios reporter Alex Thompson criticized the media for failing to adequately cover former President Joe Biden’s physical decline during his tenure, while also calling out both the Democratic and Republican parties for their ability to 'whitewash' such stories.

"Being truth tellers also means telling the truth about ourselves. We, myself included, missed a lot of this story. President Biden's decline and its cover-up by the people around him is a reminder that every White House, regardless of party, is capable of deception," Thompson told his colleagues at the White House correspondents' dinner.

Thompson, who received the Aldo Beckman Award for his work as a White House correspondent, added that the underreporting of Biden’s health had caused trust in the media to plummet.

"Some people trust us less because of it. We bear some responsibility for faith in the media being at such lows. I say this because acknowledging errors builds trust, and being defensive about them further erodes it. We should have done better," he said.

The press: "We are not the enemy of the state"

Meanwhile, during the correspondents' dinner, the president of the White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA), Eugene Daniels, defended the media against criticism from much of society and the Trump administration, with which he has a mild conflict.

"We are not the enemy of the state. Our responsibility is not to align with any one party or any one of the gender, but to serve the people of this country with integrity and dedication. We care deeply about accuracy and take seriously the heavy responsibility of being stewards of the public’s trust. What we are not is the opposition," Daniels stated.

President Donald Trump, who had already been reported as not attending the event, was in Rome, Italy, to attend Pope Francis' funeral, while the White House correspondents' dinner was taking place.