Biden Shuns a Super Bowl Interview With Fox, After All

Begun in 2020, Fox Soul is operated by a division of Fox that oversees the company’s broadcast TV affiliates. It has no editorial overlap with Fox News, the No. 1-rated cable news network. The channels are not comparable in terms of audience; for instance, Fox News has 23.7 million followers on Twitter, and Fox Soul has 7,000.

A White House official said Mr. Biden and his advisers decided to pursue Fox Soul instead of Fox News because of a desire to reach a different audience.

Mr. Biden’s snub will mark the first time since 2018 that a president skipped an interview before the Super Bowl. Former President Donald J. Trump declined an interview that year with NBC.

Tensions have simmered between the Biden White House and Fox News, whose marquee conservative hosts regularly assail the president, his agenda and his family. Any prospective interview before the Super Bowl would most likely have been conducted by a news anchor like Bret Baier or Martha MacCallum rather than an opinion host like Mr. Carlson.

Still, high-profile members of Mr. Biden’s cabinet have gone on Fox News in the past. Gene Sperling, a senior adviser, appeared on Ms. MacCallum’s program on Wednesday evening. Pete Buttigieg, the transportation secretary, regularly appears on the network.

Mr. Baier brought up Mr. Biden’s lack of responsiveness during Fox News’s State of the Union coverage on Tuesday night. “We have formally asked for that interview, but we have not received an answer yet, whether they are going to officially do it or not,” Mr. Baier told viewers. “We are running out of days.”

Harold Ford Jr., a Fox News co-host and former Democratic congressman, told Mr. Baier that he hoped the White House would play ball. “He should accept the invitation,” he said of Mr. Biden. “It’s a tradition that should be continued.”

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/10/us/politics/biden-super-bowl-fox.html