Some people want Washington’s annual “nerd prom” to feature a little more backbone.
A bevy of journalism advocacy organizations and former journalists such as Sam Donaldson, Lynn Sherr and Linda Douglass urged the White House Correspondents Association to “demonstrate opposition” when President Donald Trump makes his first appearance at the group’s annual dinner, which takes place Saturday, April 25.
“The dinner has long served as a symbol of the vital and irreplaceable role of a free press in American democracy and a celebration of the First Amendment and the journalists who uphold it. President Trump’s systematic, sustained, and unprecedented attacks on the free press render his presence at such an event a
profound contradiction of its purpose,” reads a letter addressed to WHCA member and board of directors.,
The signatories include the Society of Professional Journalists; the National Association of Black Journalists; the National Press Photographers Association; the Freedom of the Press Association;. the Coalition for Women in Journalism; and the Radio Television Digital News Association.
The Trump administration and the media covering it enjoy a strained relationship at best. The group’s letter cited a bevy of efforts to undermine the press, including banning the Associated Press from White House pool reporting and taking office space away from credible press outlets covering the Pentagon. Many of these efforts have ended up being litigated in court.
The schism between President Trump and the media has been years in the making. During his first term, he declined to attend the WHCA event, a longtime happening on the D.C. calendar, and the organization has in recent years retreated from business as usual, which calls for a comedian to deliver a few hot takes about the current occupant of the Oval Office. Last year, the WHCA pulled an invite to comic Amber Ruffin, who was scheduled to be featured at the annual dinner. Plans for 2026 call for a demonstration by a mentalist instead of a comic’s routine.
The WHCA has faced difficulties in figuring out how to respond to Trump, who only likes one kind of criticism: none. During Trump’s first term, the WHCA undermined its invited comedian, Michelle Wolf, who led a blistering routine at the 2018 dinner. “I think she’s very resourceful, like she burns facts and then she uses that ash to create a perfect smokey eye,” said Wolf of Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House Press Secretary, who attended the event. “Maybe she’s born with it, maybe it’s lies,” the comedian said, echoing the popular Maybelline advertising slogan. Within a day, the WHCA issued a statement saying that Wolf’s performance “was not in the spirit” of the group’s mission to call attention to the value of a free press as well as great journalism.
Some journalists attending this year’s dinner have unveiled plans to wear pocket handkerchiefs or lapel pins with the words of the First Amendment. But the backers urged the WHCA to “take stronger action by issuing — from the podium — a forceful defense of freedom of the press and condemnation of those
who threaten that freedom, followed by a standing toast to the First Amendment and a pledge to continue upholding such a critical cornerstone of our democracy.” The letter continued: ” Speak forcefully, in front of the man who seeks to undermine our country’s long tradition of an independent, strong, and free press. We also urge the WHCA to reaffirm, without equivocation, that freedom of the press is not a partisan issue and that the Association will not normalize this behavior but instead fight back against any officeholder who has waged systematic war against the journalists whose work the dinner celebrates.”
Whether anyone takes the group up on its counsel won’t be known, most likely, until Saturday night.
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