Elisabeth Bumiller - Coverage of George W. Bush

Coverage of George W. Bush

Bumiller was the Times' White House correspondent from September 10, 2001 until 2007. She has been criticized, along with other White House reporters, for not questioning George W. Bush aggressively during a press conference in the run-up to the Iraq war. Bumiller said, on the press conference in 2003 on the eve of the U.S. invasion of Iraq:

I think we were very deferential because ... it's live, it's very intense, it's frightening to stand up there. Think about it, you're standing up on prime-time live TV asking the president of the United States a question when the country's about to go to war. There was a very serious, somber tone that evening, and no one wanted to get into an argument with the president at this very serious time.

In 2003, in an article headlined "Keepers of Bush Image Lift Stagecraft to New Heights," she wrote of the president's famous "Mission Accomplished" speech, "George W. Bush's Top Gun landing on the deck of the carrier Abraham Lincoln will be remembered as one of the most audacious moments of presidential theater in American history," and described it as "the latest example of how the Bush administration going far beyond the foundations in stagecraft set by the Reagan White House."

At a panel discussion sponsored by Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism on November 4, 2004, in Washington, D.C., Bumiller stated, "You can't just say the president is lying." Speaking about the challenges of presenting balanced news reporting, she had earlier said,

"That’s why it’s very hard to write those, because you can’t say George Bush is wrong here. There’s no way you can say that in the New York Times. So we contort ourselves up and say, “Actually”— I actually once wrote this sentence: “Mr. Bush’s statement did not exactly . . . ” It was some completely upside down statement that was basically saying he wasn’t telling the truth."

When the moderator asked shortly after why she couldn't "just say the president is lying," she responded,

"You can in an editorial, but I’m sorry, you can’t in a news column. Mr. Bush is lying?...You can say Mr. Bush’s statement was not factually accurate. You can’t say the president is lying—that’s a judgment call."