WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden will hold a formal news conference at the White House next week after facing months of criticism about lack of media access, White House press secretary Jen Psaki announced Friday. 
Biden will field questions from reporters on Wednesday at 4 p.m. E.T., his first solo press conference at the White House since March 2021 and first since November, when he traveled to Glasgow for the United Nations climate summit. 
The president will also face reporters a day before he’s due to mark his first year in office and after a bruising week in which his political standing took a hit amid record inflation,failed efforts to push through voting rights legislation and a Supreme Court ruling against a key component of his vaccine campaign. 
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Biden has so far only held nine formal news conferences, including five during foreign trips and three joint news conferences with foreign leaders at the White House, fewer than any of his most recent White House predecessors at the same point in office, according to a recent AP analysis. 
The president, who’s only conducted 22 press interviews during his first year, has faced questions about his pledge to lead the most transparent administration in the country’s history. 
The White House Correspondents’ Association and members of the press corps have lodged complaints with the White House, urging for the president to do more sit-down interviews and formal news conferences.
White House officials have pushed back on criticism by noting he answers reporters’ questions several times a week. They point to Biden’s frequent interactions with reporters after he delivers remarks, at public events or when he’s traveling to and from the White House. But those exchanges are brief and do not allow for any follow-up questions. 

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