White House Correspondents Insider

Behind the scenes of the most powerful city in the world — Washington, D.C. — and those who cover it.

President Trump Still Welcome to Attend White House Correspondents’ Dinner

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Correspondents’ Dinner place setting. Photo courtesy Haddad Media.

The White House Correspondents’ Association is keeping open the possibility that President Donald Trump may appear at the annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner in April. The president announced last month on Twitter that he would not attend.

“If President Trump changes his mind, he is welcome to attend the dinner,” said association President Jeff Mason of Reuters.

There have been no announcements yet on who would be at the head table if Trump does not attend. Traditionally, members of the WHCA board sit on stage, joined by the president, first lady, vice president, White House press secretary and entertainment.

President Trump has attended events in the past where he had declined invitations, such as a post-election interview with the New York Times.

C-SPAN political editor and former WHCA president Steve Scully commented on this possibility. “President Trump is the master showman so he may decide to attend at the last minute, but I doubt it.”

The president has attended every White House Correspondents’ Dinner since 1981, when Ronald Reagan missed as he was recovering from an assassination attempt. Reagan called the dinner and addressed the crowd over the phone. Jimmy Carter was the last president to decline an invitation to the annual dinner.

The Association Dinner will be held on April 29. Proceeds from the event go toward scholarships for emerging journalism students.

White House Continues to Boycott CNN

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Photo courtesy Gage Skidmore.

On Wednesday, the White House offered numerous news outlets an opportunity to interview Vice President Mike Pence. The primary topic was President Donald Trump’s Tuesday evening address to a joint session of Congress.

CNN was not invited to interview the Vice President.

Jake Tapper, anchor on the network, noted the network being passed over by the Trump administration. He quoted President Trump’s speech, saying the “[t]ime for trivial fights is behind us.”

According to the Vice President’s official schedule, Pence was interviewed by television networks ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox News, MSNBC, and radio hosts Rush Limbaugh, Michael Savage and Sean Hannity.

The administration has had a confrontational relationship with CNN, including President Trump calling the network “fake news,” the network being blocked from an “informal” Q&A session last Friday with press secretary Sean Spicer, and a situation last month wherein the Vice President skipped over the network while providing interviews to all other major Sunday morning news programs.

Vice President Pence will represent the White House alongside Chief of Staff Reince Priebus at the 2017 White House Correspondents’ Dinner.

President Trump Will Not Attend Correspondents’ Dinner

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Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.

President Donald Trump announced Saturday on Twitter that he will not attend the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner this April.

Every president since 1924 has attended at least one association dinner during his term in office. The last time a sitting president did not attend was 1981 when President Ronald Reagan was recovering from an assassination attempt.

Proceeds from the annual event contribute toward scholarships for future journalists.

Bloomberg Cancels Correspondents’ Dinner Afterparty

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Photo courtesy Haddad Media.

Bloomberg L.P. will not host its popular afterparty following the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner this year, as reported first by Mike Allen at Axios.

As per a spokesperson with Bloomberg:

“We surveyed some of the past attendees and didn’t get as much interest in a party this year as we’ve had in the past, so we decided to focus on the dinner and the WHCA.”

Vanity Fair — Bloomberg’s long term co-host for this annual afterparty – had announced earlier this month it would not participate.

Strong interest in tickets by news organizations suggests the Correspondents’ dinner will be sold out again this year, as always.

Major Garrett: If the Press Skips the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, We’d Prove Trump’s Point

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Photo courtesy of Pixabay / Geralt.

Major Garrett, CBS Chief White House Correspondent, wrote an op ed in the Post Friday to reaffirm his commitment to the Correspondents’ Association and their annual dinner.  He urged the media and celebs to appear in order to celebrate the important work of covering the White House and use the dinner to shine a spotlight on educating young journalists, something we need now more than ever.

The Correspondents’ Association sponsors over $100,000 in scholarships awarded at the annual dinner.  In 2016, the association began a mentoring program pairing students with members of the WHCA for career advice and counsel.

Garrett argues that journalists that regularly attend the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, but won’t this year because of President Trump, are applying a double-standard.

[N]o self-respecting White House reporter has ever been a president’s prom date, and the dinner isn’t a date at all. It’s a cease-fire with bad wine and crowded tables. And if we, the media, stand Trump up at the proverbial dance because we’re pining for another “date,” we make it that much easier for him to say we’re playing favorites. And in this case, at least, he’d be right.

He makes the point that several media outlets have ignored the dinner for several years.  Dean Baquet of The New York Times said in 2011 that his organization has stopped attending because “it just feels like it sends the wrong signal to our readers and viewers, like we are all in it together and it is all a game. It feels uncomfortable.”

However, for those outlets that regularly have attended, avoiding this year’s dinner because of President Trump is hypocritical and sends the wrong message.  “If the dinner were canceled because (gasp!) a president made a few snide remarks about White House reporters, that act of self-regard would say that the First Amendment is negotiable and that emotional well-being takes precedence over professional responsibilities. For myself and for my colleagues on the beat, let me say unequivocally: never.”

Instead, Garrett concludes, media outlets should address the perceived challenges and threats of a new administration hostile to the press by renewing their commitment to the WHCA dinner and the First Amendment.

Garret is a former White House Correspondents’ Association board member.

Who Will Headline the Correspondents Dinner?

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Photo courtesy Haddad Media.

Over the weekend, Late Night host Stephen Colbert suggested he would “love” to again headline the 2017 White House Correspondents’ Dinner in April. “I’d love to do it. I mean, when else are you going to stand next to the President and make jokes? But no one will ever ask again.”

Past hosts include Larry Wilmore, Rich Little, Conan O’Brien and Jimmy Kimmel. Jay Leno currently holds the record for emceeing the event four times: 1987, 2000, 2004 and 2010.

The challenge for this year’s host will be balancing his or her role as entertainment with a presidential administration constantly criticizing the media. Dave Berg, producer of “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” summed it up:

“In the past, the big challenge for comedians was, ‘How could I be funnier than President Obama? In most years, his comedy trumped the comedians. This year goes way beyond that. On the one hand, you could be accused of sitting there and skewering Trump and he is captive [at the dinner]. On the other hand, you could be accused of being too soft.”

Director Patrick Gavin, who produced the 2015 documentary Nerd Prom: Inside Washington’s Wildest Week, said this should be a tough decision for any comedian. “If they’re too tough on Trump, they run the risk of violating the ‘singe, but not burn’ principle that guides the dinner… And if they’re too soft… they will suffer the wrath of half of the country that view taking it to Trump as nothing short of a civic requirement.”

Jeff Mason of Reuters, in his role as the president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, oversees choosing the entertainer. He said recently he has no timeframe currently on when someone will be announced.

President Trump has not yet accepted an invitation to attend the Dinner. The last president to miss was Ronald Reagan in 1981 as he recovered from an assassination attempt.

Stephen Colbert Offers to Host White House Correspondents’ Dinner

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Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart. Photo courtesy Haddad Media.

Over the weekend, Late Night host Stephen Colbert said he would be interested in hosting this year’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner in April.

“I’d love to do it,” Colbert said at an 80’s dance party fundraiser for the Montclair Film Festival. “I mean, when else are you going to stand next to the President and make jokes?”

Colbert was the host of the Dinner in 2006, where he roasted then-President George W. Bush. “Everyone who wasn’t in that room loved [the speech],” he reminisced.

The late-night talk show host also discussed how difficult it has been to keep up with current events as host of Late Night since the Inauguration.

“The speed at which the news changes with President Trump is extraordinary,” Colbert said. “We tape the show at 5:30 p.m., but sometimes we have to change the show at 5 p.m. — after rehearsal, when everything is done — we are writing a whole new first act based around something that he has said or done in the last half hour. The balls are coming over the plate so fast with him and I think that’s intentional. [The Trump administration] want[s] their actions to be almost un-discussable. They want to swamp the real media.”

Jeff Mason of Reuters, in his role as the president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, oversees choosing the entertainer. He said recently he has no timeframe currently on when someone will be announced.