White House Correspondents Insider

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

WHCA Election Results

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The White House Correspondents’ Association election results were announced by the Board and the incoming president, WSJ’s Carol Lee. President for 2017-18: Bloomberg’s Margaret Talev. At-large seat: Margaret Talev. Radio seat: Fox’s Jon Decker. Wire seat: AP’s Julie Pace.

Outgoing president Christi Parsons of the L.A. Times and Tribune: “Over the past year, the WHCA has been using Google lists to help the members of the White House press corps communicate directly with one another. … We owe a standing ovation to Zeke Miller of Time, … who has devoted many hours of cheerful labor to making this possible. …

“I want to single out two volunteers who … make … print pool reports possible. Colleen McCain Nelson of the Wall Street Journal coordinates the print poolers, running a complicated set of rotations … Michael Shear of the New York Times [arranges to fill] the magazine position for the travel pool so that we have a back-up on print pool duty when the president is on the road.”

via POLITICO Playbook

Today’s WHCD 2015 Round Up

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CBS nabs real, fictional secretaries of State for WHCD
“Two secretaries of State — a real-life former one, Madeleine Albright, and the Hollywood version, Téa Leoni, — will attend the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner this weekend. Albright and Leoni, who plays the fictional title role on “Madam Secretary,” will both be guests of CBS News at the April 25 festivities in Washington.”

Gov. Kasich takes flirtation with White House run to next level, creates ‘New Day for America’ fund
“Kasich will be traveling to Washington, D.C. later this week for a number of stops including the White House Correspondents Dinner and an appearance Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation.””

Listen Up, D.C.! Here Comes the White House Correspondents’ Jam.
“Leavell recruited five correspondent-fronted bands — Fortune Senior Editor-at-Large Brian Dumaine, Esquire scribe Tom Junod, CNBC Senior Economics Reporter Steve Liesman, New Yorker Editor David Remnick and Vanity Fair Contributing Editor Mark Rozzo are all slated to play with their respective outfits — to blow the doors off the Fairmont Hotel (2401 M St. NW) on April 24 from 7 to 11 p.m.”

Téa Leoni, Gina Rodriguez, Tim Daly Join WH Correspondents’ Guestlist
“The network is also bringing actress Gina Rodriguez and her actor boyfriend, Henri Esteve; “Madam Secretary” actor Tim Daly; Virginia Sen. Mark Warner; former CBS newsman and now NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Intelligence & Counter-terrorism John Miller; Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julian Castro; Texas Rep. Joaquin Castro; Lebanon Ambassador to the U.S. Anotine Chedid; and former U.S. Ambassador to Italy David Thorne.”

Funny Girl Gig: Cecily Strong Fourth Female Entertainer at White House Correspondents’ Dinner
“Strong follows Wanda Sykes (2009), Elayne Boosler (1993) and Paula Poundstone (1992).”

How To Stream The White House Correspondents’ Dinner Live, Because It’s The Hottest Place To Be Saturday Night
“The cast of Modern Family is expected to attend, as well as Michael Kelly, Gina Rodriguez, Gabourey Sidibe, and Naya Rivera. We’ll see you Saturday night.”

‘SNL’s’ Cecily Strong Promises Hard Laughs at White House Correspondents Dinner
“She said that it “felt like the right year” to do the dinner as President Obama also has Chicago-area roots. “It was really sort of like, ‘Well, it’s now or never,’” she says of taking the gig.”

April Ryan: We Miss Sam Donaldson

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White House correspondent, April Ryan, headlined the Washington Women Technology Network breakfast. In an interview with White House Correspondents Insider editor, Tammy Haddad, she described the push and pull of being a White House correspondent and lamented the days when Sam Donaldson was there and all you had to do was shout and raise your hand to get a question in. She reviewed the race record of Presidents Clinton, Bush and Obama, and told stories from her new book, The Presidency in Black and White: My Up-Close View of Three Presidents and Race in America.

She addressed reporters’ concerns that they are not in the room with the President at some events and that this White House often makes announcements on Twitter instead of talking first to the reporters in the briefing room. Co-hosted by Hilary Rosen and Connie Milstein, guests included Robin Sproul, Betsy Fischer Martin, Anita McBride, Karen Appleton, Kelley McCormick, Heather Podesta, Ceci Connolly, Didem Nisanci, and Emily Goodin. The Washington Women Technology Network is comprised of women leaders from technology, media and politics.

WHCA Announces 2015 Award Winners

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The White House Correspondents’ Association has announced its 2015 award winners.

WHCA president Christi Parsons: “For the Aldo Beckman Memorial Award, which recognizes repeated excellence in White House coverage, the winner is Peter Baker of The New York Times. Baker won the Merriman Smith Memorial Award in 2014.

“Baker’s pieces are written with depth, insight and authority. He uses his longevity on the beat to give his stories the historic context that lifts them beyond the crush of daily coverage. Strong reporting makes for good writing, as Baker shows time and again. Iraq, he writes, is the ‘graveyard of American ambition.’

“The Merriman Smith Memorial Award, which recognizes deadline work in both print and broadcast, goes to Josh Lederman of the Associated Press [‘Fence Jumper’] and Jim Avila of ABC News [‘Cuba/Alan Gross’].

“The Edgar A. Poe Award, which recognizes coverage of news of national or regional significance, is shared by Carol A. Leonnig of The Washington Post [Secret Service], and The Wall Street Journal team of Gary Fields, John R. Emshwiller, Rob Barry and Coulter Jones [‘America’s Rap Sheet’ series].”

Special mention to Scott Horsley of National Public Radio for his creative coverage of White House policies and politics.

Press Uncuffed

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Please support journalists who are under siege globally. The Washington Post’s Dana Priest shows us how we can do something from our own computers. Thanks, Dana!

“We’re journalism students at the University of Maryland working with our professor – Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post reporter Dana Priest – to raise money to free imprisoned journalists around the world by selling bracelets bearing their names. Press Uncuffed works in partnership with the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), an independent, nonprofit organization that advocates for journalists in danger.”

Support the campaign.

Colleen McCain Nelson to serve as first-ever WHCA Print Pool Chair

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Christi Parsons of L.A. Times/Chicago Tribune and president of the White House Correspondents’ Association in an email to members: “Colleen McCain Nelson [of the Wall Street Journal], the wonder volunteer who has been running our Magazine Seat rotation so ably for the last few months, has agreed to serve as our first-ever Print Pool Chair. … Vice President Carol Lee and I agree that she is the perfect person to pioneer this position for the Print Pools. You may have heard of the parallel titles in the TV and Radio pools. The Pool Chair’s role … include[s] … arbitrating policy decisions in consultation with the full pool and the WHCA board …

“[T]he Pool Chair … rotates quarterly. That helps the TV and Radio folks share the workload, but also gives everyone an inside look at how the system works. … People … have more faith in a system that they help to run. The pools belong to the members, not to the White House. That is an important principle at stake … Mike Shear of the New York Times has agreed to take over the Magazine rotation duties.”

New White House Briefing Room seating chart

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seating_chart_with_logosThe White House Briefing Room seating chart was released Tuesday by the White House Correspondents’ Association. USA Today White House reporter, Gregory Korte, created this visualization of the room.

“The White House Correspondents’ Association recently made adjustments to the briefing seating chart, promoting some news organizations and instituting seat-sharing arrangements for others. The calculus that goes into the assignments is part tenure, part audience and part commitment to the White House beat. News organizations that don’t show up every day will find another reporter sitting in its seat; miss enough briefings and the seat may be lost permanently.”

One of the biggest updates: “Newcomers Buzzfeed and Al Jazeera get partial seats through seat-sharing arrangements with Scripps-Howard News Service and the Chicago Sun-Times, respectively.”

Read more via USA Today: Here’s the new White House briefing room seating chart