White House Correspondents Insider

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

Greta Van Susteren One-on-One with WH Press Sec Sean Spicer at the Newseum

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Photo courtesy Haddad Media

The Newseum hosted a landmark event on Tuesday, The President and the Press: The First Amendment in the First 100 Days. As part of the series of talks, Greta Van Susteren interviewed White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer, who address his role in the Trump administration, the next policy pushes from the White House, and some of the recent comments he made that have made news.

Sean Spicer said of tax reform, “it’s going to take some months,” before we see a plan.

Spicer also offered an apology for his comments about World War II from the previous day saying, “I have let the president down,” and calling his comments “inexcusable.”

Van Susteren asked about the White House’s decision to skip the Correspondent’s Dinner this year. According to Spicer, “This is not the appropriate year to go…I don’t think we should fake it.”

Hasan Minjah Will Host This Year’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner

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By DoD News photo by EJ Hersom [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Hasan Minjah, senior correspondent on “The Daily Show” and stand up comedian, will be this year’s headline entertainment for the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.

In a statement, Minjah said “it is a tremendous honor to be a part of such a historic event even though the president has chosen not to attend this year. SAD!”

Jeff Mason, White House Correspondents Association president and journalist for Reuters, said in announcing Minjah’s role at the dinner:

“I am thrilled that Hasan will serve as our featured entertainer at this year’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner. Hasan’s smarts, big heart and passion for press freedom make him the perfect fit for our event, which will be focused on the First Amendment and the importance of a robust and independent media.”

Mason also said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that while President Trump will not be in attendance at the dinner, Minjah very likely will make jokes poking at both the press and the administration, but he “was not looking for someone who would roast the president in absentia.”

President Trump announced in February he will not attend this year’s dinner, making it the first time a sitting president will not be present since 1981, when Ronald Reagan was recovering from an assassination attempt. The White House later announced no staff would attend in “solidarity” with the president.

The White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner will be held on April 29 at the Washington Hilton.

Creative Coalition’s “Right to Bear Arts” Day of Advocacy and Gala Dinner White House Correspondents Dinner Weekend

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Jawbone’s Hosain Rahman, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, Tammy Haddad and Tim Daly. Photo courtesy Haddad Media.

A delegation of Hollywood stars will arrive in Washington the weekend of the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner to promote and advocate funding for the arts.

The nonpartisan arts charity of the entertainment industry, The Creative Coalition will sponsor their annual gala and Advocacy Day, the “Right to Bear Arts,” the weekend of the Correspondent’s Dinner at the nation’s capitol.

Delegation members include Matt Walsh (“Veep”), Alyssa Milano (“Mistresses”), Justin Bartha (“The Hangover”), Wendi McLendon-Covey (“The Goldbergs”), Aaron Staton (“Mad Men”), Nick Sandow (“Orange is the New Black”), Denis O’Hare (“American Horror Story”) and Sarah Wayne Callies (“Prison Break”). Additional sponsors include the organization’s President actor Tim Daly (“Madam Secretary”) and Creative Coalition CEO Robin Bronk.

It had been speculated that Hollywood may sit out this year’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner weekend festivities as a protest against President Donald Trump. Trump announced on Twitter in February he would not attend the Correspondents’ dinner, which raises money for exceptional journalism scholarships and is a celebration of the First Amendment.

The dinner is Co-Chaired by Todd Hitt, Hitt Construction; Lori Gordon, Cardinal Health and Michael Mimeles.

The Creative Coalition was founded in 1989 by prominent members of the creative community. Its mission is to educate, mobilize and activate members on important issues in the arts and entertainment communities.

News Media Alliance Launches Effort to Support Real News

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CNBC newsroom. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.

News Media Alliance President and CEO David Chavern has launched a national campaign focused on combatting the increasing prevalence of fake news. This effort, named Support Real News, is designed to highlight the importance of real journalism, and expose the harm on society by fake news outlets.

Support Real News calls on the public to bolster real journalism by taking action such as subscribing to local newspapers and supporting the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.

“We are encouraged by the efforts of our members and other organizations to call attention to the growing fake news problem and to promote the value of real news,” said  Chavern. “As the association that represents the news media industry, fighting fake news is one of the most important things the News Media Alliance can do for our members right now. Our campaign raises awareness of the damage that can be and is being caused by fake news, and to demonstrate why the continued presence of real news organizations is vital to a strong democracy.”

The Alliance has created campaign resources for this effort through digital, social, video and print means, which are available on the Alliance website. These resources include colorful print and digital ads, an online video, social media graphics and profile badges, draft blog posts and an op-ed by Chavern.

“As the association that represents the news media industry, fighting fake news is one of the most important things the News Media Alliance can do for our members right now,” stated Chavern.

State-Owned Russian News Site Applies for Press Pass

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Photo courtesy Pixabay.

Sputnik, a Russian state-owned news outlet, has applied for a White House Press pass.

The Russian news source is asking for membership in the White House Foreign Press Group.  This group of about 22 foreign outlets covers President Trump alongside pool reporters from U.S. news outlets.

Philip Crowther, White House correspondent for France’s News24 and head of the White House Foreign Press Group, stated that there “shouldn’t be any reason” for the Russian publication to not join the press pool if they meet the required criteria.  These include membership in the White House Correspondents’ Association, verification that Sputnik is based in Russia through the U.S. State Department, and a White House-approved hard pass.

Sputnik is one of the newer Russian state-sponsored news outlets, launching in 2014.  It has received criticism of a staunch pro-Putin position and has been viewed as a mouthpiece for the Kremlin.

President Trump’s campaign and several of his top advisors have been under investigation by the FBI, as confirmed under oath by FBI Director James Comey during a Congressional hearing last week.  The agency is reviewing the possibility of any links or coordination between the campaign and Moscow.

First Lady Announces 2017 White House Easter Egg Roll

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First Lady Melania Trump announced the initial details of the 139th annual White House Easter Egg Roll today.   The event is scheduled to take place on April 17th on the South Lawn of the White House.  The President and First Lady are inviting families with children aged 13 and under to join them and White House staff for a day full of festivities and celebrations.

White House Easter Egg Roll tickets are allotted through an online lottery, although tickets are free to the public.

The Easter Egg Roll is a tradition at the White House dating back to President Rutherford B. Hayes in 1878.

Further information surrounding the Easter Egg Roll and the lottery for tickets will be announced later this month.

President Trump’s Address to Congress Draws Over 40 Million Viewers

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Photo courtesy likedavid / Pixabay.

According to data provided by Nielsen, President Donald Trump’s initial address to a joint session of Congress reached approximately 43 million television viewers.

Networks such as ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox aired the address live, as did cable news channels including CNN, MSNBC and Fox News.

Comparatively, President George W. Bush’s first address to Congress in 2001 was watched by approximately 39 million viewers, while President Barack Obama’s initial Congressional speech in 2009 averaged approximately 52 million.

More people watched this week’s joint address than President Trump’s inauguration speech, which drew an average of 30.6 million viewers. The inauguration speech was conducted at noon on a Friday, while his address to the joint session was conducted during prime time on Tuesday evening.

The channel C-SPAN is not included in Nielsen measurements, nor does the firm measure viewers that streamed the speech online.

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.

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 Media Banned from Friday’s White House Q&A

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James Brady Press Briefing Room, 2007. Photo courtesy Wikipedia.

White House press secretary Sean Spicer’s Friday question-and-answer session will occur without major news outlets such as Politico, CNN, the New York Times, BuzzFeed and the Los Angeles Times.

Instead of the standard on-camera briefing in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room, Spicer instead held an off-camera “gaggle” inside his West Wing office.  Attendees were welcomed to the session by invitation only.

Some major news organizations were also let in, such as ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, Reuters and Bloomberg.

Jeff Mason, the White House Correspondents’ Association president, blasted the situation.

“The WHCA board is protesting strongly against how today’s gaggle is being handled by the White House.  We encourage the organizations that were allowed in to share the material with others in the press corps who were not.  The board will be discussing this further with White House staff.”

The White House has not commented on the situation.