The White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA) is an organization of journalists who cover the White House and the President of the United States. The WHCA was founded on February 25, 1914 by journalists in response to an unfounded rumor that a United States congressional committee would select which journalists could attend press conferences of President Woodrow Wilson.
The WHCA operates independently of the White House. Among the more notable issues handled by the WHCA are the credentialing process, access to the President and physical conditions in the White House press briefing rooms. Its most high-profile activity is the annual White House Correspondents' Dinner, which is traditionally attended by the President and covered by the news media.
Not every member of the White House press corps is a member of the White House Correspondents' Association.
Video White House Correspondents' Association
Association leadership, 2018-2019
The current leadership team of the White House Correspondents' Association includes:
- Officers
- President: Olivier Knox, Sirius XM
- Vice President: Jonathan Karl, ABC News
- Secretary: Alicia Jennings, NBC News
- Treasurer: Francesca Chambers, Daily Mail
- Board members
- Zeke Miller, Associated Press
- Doug Mills, New York Times
- Todd Gillman, Dallas Morning News
- Anita Kumar, McClatchy
- Tamara Keith, NPR
- Executive Director
- Steven Thomma
Maps White House Correspondents' Association
Table of association presidents
White House Press Room
The WHCA is responsible for assigning seating in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room in the West Wing of the White House.
White House Correspondents' Dinner
The WHCA's annual dinner, begun in 1921, has become a Washington, D.C. tradition and is traditionally attended by the president and vice president. Fifteen presidents have attended at least one WHCA dinner, beginning with Calvin Coolidge in 1924. The dinner is traditionally held on the evening of the last Saturday in April at the Washington Hilton.
Until 1962, the dinner was open only to men, even though WHCA's membership included women. At the urging of Helen Thomas, President John F. Kennedy refused to attend the dinner unless the ban on women was dropped.
Prior to World War II, the annual dinner featured singing between courses, a homemade movie, and an hour-long, post-dinner show with big-name performers. Since 1983, however, the featured speaker has usually been a comedian, with the dinner taking on the form of a 'roast' of the president and his administration.
The dinner also funds scholarships for gifted students in college journalism programs.
Many annual dinners have been cancelled or downsized due to deaths or political crises. The dinner was cancelled in 1930 due to the death of former president William Howard Taft; in 1942, following the United States' entry into World War II; and in 1951, over what President Harry S. Truman called the "uncertainty of the world situation". In 1981, Ronald Reagan did not attend because he was recuperating after the attempted assassination on his life the previous month, but he did phone in and told a joke about the shooting.
President Donald Trump did not attend the dinners in 2017 and 2018.
Dinner criticisms
The WHCD has been increasingly criticized as an example of the coziness between the White House press corps and the administration. The dinner typically includes a skit, either live or videotaped, by the sitting president in which he mocks himself, for the amusement of the press corps. The press corps, in turn, hobnobs with administration officials, even those who are unpopular and are not regularly cooperative with the press. Increasing scrutiny by bloggers has contributed to added public focus on this friendliness.
After the 2007 dinner, New York Times columnist Frank Rich implied that the Times would no longer participate in the dinners. Rich wrote that the dinner had become "a crystallization of the press's failures in the post-9/11 era" because it "illustrates how easily a propaganda-driven White House can enlist the Washington news media in its shows".
Other criticism has focused on the amount of money actually raised for scholarships, which has decreased over the past few years.
In recent years, the dinners have drawn increasing public attention, and the guest list grows "more Hollywood". The attention given to the guest list and entertainers often overshadows the intended purpose of the dinner, which is to "acknowledge award-winners, present scholarships, and give the press and the president an evening of friendly appreciation". This has led to an atmosphere of coming to the event only to "see and be seen". This usually takes place at pre-dinner receptions and post-dinner parties hosted by various media organizations, which are often a bigger draw and can be more exclusive than the dinners themselves.
List of dinners
Gallery
Awards
The Merriman Smith Memorial Award
- See footnote.
Awarded for outstanding examples of deadline reporting.
The Aldo Beckman Memorial Award
- See footnote.
Awarded for journalistic excellence.
The Edgar A. Poe Memorial Award
- See footnote.
Awarded for excellence on a story of national or regional significance.
See also
- Gridiron Club
- Radio and Television Correspondents' Association
- Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner
- Not the White House Correspondents' Dinner
- National Press Club
- Parliamentary Press Gallery
- List of dining events
References
External links
- White House Correspondents' Association
- White House Correspondents' Association Dinner at C-SPAN
- Barack Obama Roasts Donald Trump At White House Correspondents' Association Dinner
Source of article : Wikipedia
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