Fox News White House Correspondent Peter Doocy Discusses His Relationship With Biden Press Shop

By A.J. Katz 

Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy was profiled by Politico this week for a piece titled: Is Fox’s Peter Doocy Just Asking Questions — Or Trolling the White House?

Topics discussed include his unique relationship with the Biden press shop, his approach to asking questions at briefings, and life in the business, including as the son of Fox & Friends mainstay Steve Doocy.

According to Politico, many media-watchers and TV rivals see Doocy’s “sharp-edged, juxtaposition-heavy questions as veering dangerously into bad-faith trolling.” However, White House aides tell Politico they feel there are some arguments for staying engaged with Doocy. Christopher Cadelago writes:

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For one thing, Biden’s team wants to avoid the combative, disruptive attitude his predecessor took toward the media. They also acknowledge that Peter Doocy is a proxy for a huge audience, or a sizeable slice of it anyway, that still might be reachable with Biden’s message. By engaging with Fox, a president who campaigned on unifying the country stands a better chance of getting through to voters he wants, and ultimately might need.

According to Politico, the White House doesn’t necessarily think Doocy “is trying to embarrass them with off-the-wall questions.” Rather, they see him as playing a role for his network.

And regarding that role:

Doocy himself maintains he’s just a straight news reporter doing his job, which he mostly views as getting officials to say newsworthy things on camera. He even revealed, and a White House official confirmed, that when he’s planning to ask about a story that isn’t leading national news, he runs the topic (though not the question) by Biden’s press aides in advance. Doocy says he genuinely wants to understand the president’s thinking — plus, “I’ll have to get back to you on that,” a common [White House press secretary Jen] Psaki refrain, doesn’t make for a useful soundbite.

Reflecting on the press conference snub, he noted that Biden aides had left Fox off their list of reporters for the president to call on for months, going back to the campaign and the transition. He said it finally felt like the right time to have Psaki answer for that on camera. “There are bigger problems in the world than Fox not getting called on,” Doocy acknowledges. “However, there was an interest just by me in trying to get to the bottom of it.”

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