White House Correspondents Insider

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

Paramount Global’s Starry White House Correspondents Dinner After Party

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CBS, MTV Entertainment, Comedy Central, Paramount+, and Showtime, otherwise known as Paramount Global, came together to host the #ParamountAfterParty at the Residence of France with Ambassador Philippe Etienne following the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday, April 30th. The star-studded affair was one of the most sought-after tickets of the weekend.

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The top brass from Paramount Global strutted their stuff as the new hosts. Bloomberg and VANITY FAIR were the longtime hosts of the After party, but this year in Paramount Global garnered an equally epic gathering of Washington’s top players and Hollywood’s beautiful people. The guest list included Diane Lane, Sophia Bush, Gayle King, Roy Wood, Jr., Billy Eichner, as well as Biden administration officials Secretary of State Tony Blinken, White House Cabinet Secretary Evan Ryan, Counselor to the President Steve Ricchetti, Press Secretary Jen Psaki, Biden Senior Advisor Mike Donilon and Senators Chris Coons (Del.) and Amy Klobuchar (Minn.) and former Congressman Will Hurd (Texas) from Capitol Hill.

Paramount Global leadership was well represented by CBS president and CEO George Cheeks, SHOWTIME CEO David Nevins, Washington favorite DeDe Lea, EVP of Global Public Policy and Government Relations, co-presidents of CBS News Wendy McMahon and Neeraj Khemlani and Tom Ryan, President & CEO Paramount Streaming / Co-Founder & CEO Pluto TV.

The company owned the weekend with Comedy Central’s Trevor Noah appearing as the comedian at the dinner, CBS radio’s Steve Portnoy, this year’s President of the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner, CBS Evening News anchor Norah O’Donnell, who signed a new contract and hosts the only evening new show that originates from Washington, and Showtime Stars Corey Stoll and Desus were among the guests.

The Biden White House staff was well represented beginning with Secretary of State Tony Blinken and Evan Ryan, Steve and Amy Ricchetti, Mike and Trish Donilon, Jen Psaki, Ned Price, Anthony Bernal, Naomi Biden, Ashley Biden, Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas, Amb. Philippe Etienne, Amb. Karen Pierce, Charles Roxburgh, Karine Jean-Pierre, John McCarthy, Lina Khan, Rohit Chopra, Jessica Rosenworcel, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Sen. Chris Coons, DeDe Lea, David Nevins, George Cheeks, Neeraj Khemlani, Gayle King, Norah O’Donnell and Geoff Tracy, Diane Lane, Brooke Shields and daughter Rowan, Harry Hamlin, Roy Wood, Christa Robinson, Roy Wood, Jr., Tony Dokoupil and Katy Tur, Chris and Jenny Licht, David and Katie Leavy, Don Lemon and Tim Malone, Nathaniel Brown, Pamela Brown, Kate Bouldan, Fred and Genny Ryan, Kara Swisher, Nayeema Raza, Carol Melton, Robert Costa, Jason Isaacs, Symone Sanders, Jonathan Swan, Mike Allen, Jay Carney, John Harris, Matt Kaminsky, Matt Dornic, Jim VandeHei, Steve and Jean Case, Marne Levine and Phil Deutch, Will Hurd, Chris Krebs, Shelley Zalis, Yebbie Watkins, Liz Johnson, Daniel Koh and Amy Sennett, Senay Bulbul, Jonathan and Betsy Fisher Martin, Luke Russert, Kasie Hunt, Craig Gordon, Olivia Nuzziand Ryan Lizza, Brian Stelter, Ingrid Ciprian-Matthews, Ryan Williams, Anthony Verdugo, Nancy Cordes, Marc Adelman.

WHCA Announces New Seating Chart for White House Briefing Room

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The White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) announced its new seating chart for the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room in the West Wing, as reported by Deadline. The changes will take effect Monday, January 3, 2022.

Image courtesy of Deadline.com

WHCA President Steve Portnoy wrote in a letter to WHCA members that of the 65 news organizations and entities that received assignments, 14 were getting their first ever seats in the room, and 30 news organizations are sharing seats.

The front two rows remain unchanged:

First Row: NBC News, FOX News, CBS News, AP, ABC News, Reuters, and CNN

Second Row: The Wall Street Journal, CBS News Radio, Bloomberg, NPR, The Washington Post, The New York Times, and USA Today

According the Deadline: “The organizations new to the seating chart from 2017: Telemundo, CNBC, The Grio, Fox Business, Nexstar, Newsy, Gray TV, EWTN, Cheddar, Hearst, Spectrum, Newsweek, The Daily Caller and The Washington Blade. All are sharing seats. Missing from the list compared to 2017: SiriusXM, Westwood One, The New York Daily News, Talk Radio News, OAN and BuzzFeed.”

Biden White House Press Briefings Return to Full Capacity

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This week, the James S. Brady White House Press Briefing Room finally returned to full capacity for the first time since March 16, 2020, marking a hopeful landmark as the White House returns to pre-pandemic norms.

Photo courtesy of CBS News.

The change was announced by the White House Correspondents Association on Sunday, along with the reintroduction of the pre-pandemic seating chart for the press room, featuring reporters from NBC, Fox News, CBS News, the Associated Press, ABC News, Reuters and CNN, reported Politico. The WHCA also announced that press capacity limitations for the North Lawn and indoor press workspaces would be lifted as well.

For over a year, the White House press briefing room had a severely limited amount of available seating, forcing the WHCA to issue seating rotations to give each outlet an opportunity to ask their questions – an arrangement that had pleased then-President Donald Trump who admitted back in March 2020 that there were only “two or three” reporters that he actually liked, Philip Wegman of RealClearPolitics recounts. “We should get rid of another 75 to 80% of you,” the president remarked at the time.

In late May, the press room returned to 50% capacity, allowing – for the first time in over a year – a full lineup of news outlets to fill the 24 available seats. However, some reporters were alarmed on Monday to see the James S. Brady room make such a quick turnaround. White House reporter and Co-author of Politico’s West Wing Playbook Alex Thompson noted that the briefing room had around 83 attendees on the first day back – far more than the available 49 seats.

Shortly after the two-minute warning leading into the press briefing, an unnamed voice asked the additional reporters not to stand in the aisles, as was customary prior to the pandemic. However, the request was not heeded.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, who has been giving briefings to a limited audience since she first started at the White House, was quick to adjust to the crowded room, reports CBS News. “I’m very thrown off to where everyone’s seated – I’ll adjust to it,” Psaki quipped before taking questions.

According to a survey issued by the WHCA, more than 97% of its members reported being fully vaccinated, serving as motivation for the most recent changes. As early as two weeks ago, journalists were required to take nasal swabs before entering the briefing room. Now, per the WHCA’s new guidance, fully vaccinated journalists do not need to be tested and the White House will not be asking for proof of vaccination.

The White House Correspondents Association’s President Zeke Miller wrote in the announcement that, “Since the onset of the pandemic, our priority has been to keep journalists safe, while ensuring that the critical work of informing the public could continue uninterrupted.”

“We appreciate the sacrifices made by every member of the press corps and we thank you all for your cooperation over the last 15 months,” he added.

White House Correspondents Association Receives Press Freedom Award

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Photo courtesy AFS-USA Intercultural Programs.

The White House Correspondents Association will be honored by the National Press Club and its nonprofit Journalism Institute with its John Aubuchon Press Freedom Award.

Named after the late president of the National Press Club and a renown journalist dedicated to press freedom, this award is presented annually to two recipients — one domestic and one foreign — at the annual Fourth Estate Gala, to be held in October.  The recipients are recognized for “demonstrating through their work the principles of press freedom and open government.”

In announcing the decision, the National Press Club said that

“While there are a number of worthy potential recipients this year, the Club and Journalism Institute chose the White House Correspondents’ Association for its tireless — and often thankless — efforts to maintain lines of communication with the leaders of our government and stand up for public access, all while enduring insults, public ridicule and not-so-veiled threats.”

The Club also noted that “the toxic environment for reporters in Washington is making it more difficult for journalists at a state and local level to keep the public informed.”

The press corps of Mexico is this year’s foreign recipient of the Press Freedom Award.

ABC’s Jonathan Karl Elected as White House Correspondents Association President for 2019-2020 Term

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Photo courtesy Haddad Media.

The White House Correspondents Association announced Jonathan Karl of ABC News has been elected president of the organization for 2019-2020.

Currently chief White House correspondent for ABC News, Karl has also covered Congress and the Pentagon in his career. He began working for ABC in 2003 reporting from the State Department.

Karl received 104 votes out of 265 cast in the election for leadership of the White House Correspondents Association. Dallas Morning News’ Todd Gillman came in second with 87 votes.

In addition to being chosen as president of the organization, Karl was also appointed to a three-year term as an at-large board of directors member. Gillman was also named to the board as newspaper representative. Additionally, the New York Times’ Doug Mills was chosen to fill the photography seat on the board.

White House Correspondents Association Weighs Membership Rule Change

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Photo courtesy Pixabay.

The White House Correspondents Association is considering a proposed change to its bylaws, requiring “regular members” of the organization to be credentialed through or work for an organization recognized by the Congressional Standing Committee.

Organization president and Reuters White House correspondent Jeff Mason suggested the reason for the change is that the Congressional Standing Committee is the “gold standard” for credentialing in the nation’s capital.

The White House Correspondents Association does not issue credentials itself. The mission of the organization is to advocate for freedom of the press, access to the White House and provides scholarships for exceptional journalism students.

Six journalists are circulating a letter opposing the rules change, including liberal commentator Bill Press, longtime independent correspondent Connie Lawn, and reporters for Newsmax, Circa and The Daily Signal. Charlie Spiering, White House correspondent for Breitbart, wrote in the letter that:

“The WHCA Board has in most cases done a great job in advocating for journalists’ access, and showing respect to all members. The proposed bylaws change regarding membership is an unfortunate exception. That’s because the bylaws change would mean some members and hard pass holders who regularly cover the White House will not have full participation in the organization that is supposed to represent them regarding access among other things.”

Breitbart was denied congressional press passes earlier this year, meaning reporters for the conservative news outlet would be eligible for associate membership, but not full membership in the White House Correspondents Association. The Congressional Standing Committee rejected Breitbart’s press passes over concerns about its ties to the Mercer family, who are Republican benefactors, and to the Government Accountability Institute, a nonprofit co-founded by former Breitbart chairman and White House strategist Steve Bannon.

Members of the White House Correspondents Association have until Friday to vote on the change to bylaws.