Journalists cannot ignore the question of capability for public figures

Setting the news agenda for a presidential election is one of journalism’s most important responsibilities. What gets covered — and what gets left out — impacts the voters’ ability to decide the nation’s future course. Election coverage would be incomplete without a full presentation of GOP front-runner former President Trump’s indictments and legal troubles. As expected, the media is all over those matters.

As for President Biden’s reelection, a topic demanding coverage is whether his physical and cognitive capabilities are sufficient for a second term. For whatever reasons, the establishment media appear hesitant to cover that topic with the necessary effort. Perhaps it is the fear of being accused of ageism, or the notion that raising such questions necessarily boosts Trump’s reelection prospects.

But Biden’s overall ability to handle the demands of his office should certainly be fair game for journalistic scrutiny, and it can be done with proper respect and decency. Such reporting need not be built solely around Biden’s age. Plenty of America’s senior citizens who are older than Biden lead active and robust lives. The issue is whether the current president is up to the challenges his duties demand.

The public is ahead of the news media in questioning the president’s overall fitness for the job. Biden likes to answer “watch me” when he is occasionally questioned about his age; the public has been watching, and a wide majority believe the 80-year-old is too old for another term. Another poll shows the public is concerned about both Biden’s physical and mental capacity for the job of president. Thus, it is hardly a surprise that many voters don’t want Biden to run again.

It’s not as though this news topic is getting plucked out of thin air as crass political opportunism. Illustrations of Biden’s curious proclamations and behaviors are on seeming spin-cycle display. The president baffled audiences recently with the pronouncement that his administration had ended “cancer as we know it.” He recently stumbled through remarks in a meeting with Israeli President Isaac Herzog, even while working off notecards. Then there was Biden’s visit to Finland, where he apparently pantomimed nibbling on a young girl’s shoulder after earlier skipping a dinner for NATO leaders on the European trip.

Responsible news coverage of the Biden fitness issue would simply address the evidence piling up every day and respond to the concerns being expressed in public polls. Ignoring the news relevance of Biden’s frailty is, at a certain point, journalistic malpractice.

The vitality of any public figure is a factor as to whether they can effectively carry out required duties, and that makes it a matter for solid journalism. And it’s not like Biden is the only prominent politician for whom health might be a concern.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-Ky.) recent public health scare deservedly drew substantial media coverage. The capabilities of Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and John Fetterman (D-Pa.) have also been called into question. Former CNN host Don Lemon even remarked that GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley “isn’t in her prime,” and she is just 51 years old. Biden’s chief political rival, Trump, at age 77, is well into senior citizen status himself, and should also be scrutinized for whether his health is sufficient for the duties of president.

The Biden administration well knows the president’s overall health condition is relevant in the rhetorical sphere. White House handlers have curiously tried to address the issue with humor in recent weeks, an odd strategy that suggests this serious matter can be laughed off. Other accommodations for the president underscore the administration’s awareness. Those include using a shorter set of stairs for boarding Air Force One, frequent use of notecards, and larger fonts on the teleprompter, as a couple of media reports have confirmed. Such White House acknowledgements, in a sense, give a backhanded green light to the news industry to provide the coverage the fitness topic demands.

Citizens will make their 2024 presidential voting decisions on a range of issues. Physical and cognitive capability will certainly be on that list, along with the economy, and so on. The news media owes it to the nation to provide extensive and measured coverage of all of the topics on the public’s mind. The voters can then weigh the evidence and decide who to hire for the rigorous job as president, just like real-world employers do when assessing whether applicants can complete the tasks associated with any other job.

Jeffrey M. McCall is a media critic and professor of communication at DePauw University. He has worked as a radio news director, a newspaper reporter and as a political media consultant. Follow him on Twitter @Prof_McCall.