Trump's would-be influencers went on Fox. How do you get to Biden?
In today's day and age, any communication channel is an effective communication channel if the right person is listening ... or, in the case of President Biden and those interested in running ads in a 100-year-old newspaper, reading.
Those looking to get their message in front of Biden have taken to buying ad space in Delaware's The News Journal, a century-old publication that counts the president as one of its readers, writes Politico. Biden was known to peruse The News Journal while vice president, and "regularly fielded questions from the paper's reporters on the 2020 campaign trail." And in May, Politico reported the paper was read in the White House and delivered to Biden's home in Wilmington.
A handful of parties looking to influence the president have run 17 ads between September and mid-November alone, some of which called on Biden to "take action on renewable fuel policy," or expressed "gratitude that he preserved tribal cultural heritage sites in Utah," writes Politico. For one group, the Union of Concerned Scientists, it cost $22,000 to buy four sets of ads with three ads running in each set.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
"We are doing the classic full court press, trying everything we can think of, to try and get our message to the president," said Stephen Young, the group's senior Washington representative.
Targeting Biden with these "strategically placed" print ads is "of a similar strategic vein — though entirely different scope — to the methods used to reach his predecessor, Donald Trump," Politico adds. During Trump's time in office, those interested in getting in front of him "repeatedly took to Fox News to lobby their case directly." But much like the current president's temperment, this newspaper-based system of policy influencing is a decidedly much softer approach. Read more at Politico.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Brigid Kennedy worked at The Week from 2021 to 2023 as a staff writer, junior editor and then story editor, with an interest in U.S. politics, the economy and the music industry.
-
The week’s best photosIn Pictures A man's best friend, the elephants in the room, and more
-
A TikTok trend has Gen Z men leaving streetwear behind for more preppy attireThe Explainer More than a zipper: Young Black men embrace the ‘quarter-zip movement‘
-
Codeword: December 12, 2025The daily codeword puzzle from The Week
-
‘The menu’s other highlights smack of the surreal’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Democrat files to impeach RFK Jr.Speed Read Rep. Haley Stevens filed articles of impeachment against Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
-
$1M ‘Trump Gold Card’ goes live amid travel rule furorSpeed Read The new gold card visa offers an expedited path to citizenship in exchange for $1 million
-
US seizes oil tanker off VenezuelaSpeed Read The seizure was a significant escalation in the pressure campaign against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro
-
Judge orders release of Ghislaine Maxwell recordsSpeed Read The grand jury records from the 2019 prosecution of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein will be made public
-
Miami elects first Democratic mayor in 28 yearsSpeed Read Eileen Higgins, Miami’s first woman mayor, focused on affordability and Trump’s immigration crackdown in her campaign
-
The Trump administration says it deports dangerous criminals. ICE data tells a different story.IN THE SPOTLIGHT Arrest data points to an inconvenient truth for the White House’s ongoing deportation agenda
-
Ex-FBI agents sue Patel over protest firingspeed read The former FBI agents were fired for kneeling during a 2020 racial justice protest for ‘apolitical tactical reasons’
