White House Denies Fox News Is Being Unfairly Treated

White House press secretary Jen Psaki speaks during the daily press briefing at the White House in Washington on March 15, 2021. Drew Angerer/Getty Images

White House press secretary Jen Psaki denied claims from a Fox News reporter on Friday that the network is being treated unfairly after a correspondent, Peter Doocy, was not called on by President Joe Biden a day earlier.

Doocy claimed his network is often left off lists of reporters who can question Biden, coming after photos emerged of the president holding a list of reporters that apparently indicated who he should call on. Doocy also alleged that four other TV networks, CBS, ABC, NBC, and PBS were given preferential treatment.

“I’m curious if that is official administration policy,” Doocy asked Psaki on Friday.

“We’re here having a conversation, aren’t we?” Psaki told him. “And do I take questions from you every time I come to the briefing room? Has the president taken questions from you since he came into office, yes or no?”

Doocy then asked about the list that Biden had.

Psaki responded by saying that she takes questions from Doocy every day and appears regularly on Fox News.

“I’d say that I’m always happy to have this conversation with you, even about the awesome socks you are wearing today, and have a conversation with you even when we disagree,” she said. “The president has taken your questions and I’m looking forward to doing ‘Fox News Sunday’ this Sunday for the third time in the last few months.”

President Joe Biden talks to reporters during the first news conference of his presidency in the East Room of the White House in Washington on March 25, 2021. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Biden took questions from reporters with 10 news outlets during his first news conference Thursday, including PBS, The Associated Press, the Washington Post, ABC, the Wall Street Journal—which is owned by Fox News parent NewsCorp—NBC, CBS, CNN, Univision, and Bloomberg, according to The Hill.

Doocy later said during a Fox News broadcast that after the Thursday news conference, he “had a binder full of questions” to ask Biden.

He added, “Nobody ever asked [Biden] about this big plan that he’s got, this big idea to completely transform the economy to make it all green. That is something we ... we’re hoping to get on the board with, and there was really not a lot of questions about COVID, particularly the investigation into the origins of it.”

Fox network anchor John Roberts suggested on the air that Psaki’s statement about Biden taking Doocy’s questions is false. “[Doocy] has never been on the list. He has only gotten questions when he has shouted them at the president,” Roberts said.