New Delhi: Days after the United States President Joe Biden said that the Indian press was "much better behaved" than the American press during his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the White House has now tried to pacify an upset American media.
President Biden, during his first in-person bilateral meeting with PM Modi at the White House last week, praised the Indian media, calling it "better behaved” than the US media.
Biden criticised American reporters for asking questions that are not "on point" in front of a foreign head of government.
In the video below, Biden can be seen making the controversial remark at the 2.08-minute mark.
Watch Joe Biden's Controversial Remarks On US Press
President's remark did not go down well with the US media with several reporters and journalists seeking clarification over his remarks from the White House Press Secretary.
White House Defends Biden's Remark
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki faced a number of questions on Biden’s comments from American journalists but defended the President’s remarks.
"I think what he said is that they’re not always "on point." Now, I know that isn’t something that anyone wants to hear here. But what I think he was conveying is, you know, today, he might want to talk about Covid vaccines; some of the questions were about that. He might want to talk about and some of the questions are not always about the topic he’s talking about that day," Psaki said.
"I don’t think it was meant to be a hard cut at the members of the media – people he has taken questions from today and on Friday as well," she said.
On Friday, PM Modi and President Biden held their first bilateral talks since the later took over as the president of the United States.
During his US visit, PM Modi also held meetings with US Vice President Kamala Harris, Australian and Japanese Prime Ministers Scott Morrison and Yoshihide Suga.
He also attended the first in-person summit of the Quad grouping following which he addressed the United Nation General Assembly (UNGA).