Advertisement

We need your help now

Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.

You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.

If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.

PA Wire/PA Images

Donald Trump to skip White House Correspondents' Dinner

“Please wish everyone well and have a great evening!” Trump wrote on Twitter.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP has ratcheted up his feud with the US media, announcing he will skip the annual correspondents’ dinner one day after a row erupted over White House press access.

By skipping the 29 April event Trump breaks a tradition in which the US president is the guest of honour at a light-hearted roast held by journalists and studded with celebrities.

“I will not be attending the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner this year. Please wish everyone well and have a great evening!” Trump wrote on Twitter.

The last time a president missed the event was in 1981, when Ronald Reagan was recovering after being shot in an assassination attempt. Reagan however phoned in with friendly remarks.

Richard Nixon, who despised the media, skipped the event in 1972.

The White House Correspondents Association, which has organised the annual dinner since 1921 to raise money for journalism scholarships, said it would go ahead with the event as planned.

The dinner “has been and will continue to be a celebration of the First Amendment [on freedom of the press] and the important role played by an independent news media in a healthy republic,” WHCA president Jeff Mason tweeted.

There has been discussion, however, that the event is outdated and highlights the too-close-for-comfort relationships between politicians and journalists.

Trump built his presidential campaign on criticising the mainstream US press – whose editorial boards overwhelmingly opposed his election – and has intensified his rhetoric since taking office, routinely accusing the media of bias in overstating his setbacks and downplaying his accomplishments.

Trump PA Images / Andrew Harnik PA Images / Andrew Harnik / Andrew Harnik

The media’s job of scrutinising and questioning political power has irked Trump, who isn’t a career politician, and prompted him to make public attacks on media organisations.

“Protesting strongly”

Trump’s cancelation comes one day after the White House triggered widespread outrage by denying access to an off-camera briefing to several major US media outlets, including CNN and The New York Times.

Smaller outlets that have provided favourable coverage of the Trump administration, such as Breitbart and the One America News Network were allowed to attend the briefing by spokesman Sean Spicer.

The WHCA said it was “protesting strongly” against the decision to selectively deny media access, and would bring it up with the Republican administration.

The New York Times described the White House decision as “an unmistakable insult to democratic ideals,” while CNN called it “an unacceptable development” and the Los Angeles Times warned the incident had “ratcheted up the White House’s war on the free press” to a new level.

Hours earlier on Friday, speaking at the annual CPAC gathering of conservative activists and politicians, Trump slammed the mainstream US media as “the enemy of the people,” and labeled the fourth estate “fake news” and the “opposition party.”

US Trump Japan AP / Carolyn Kaster AP / Carolyn Kaster / Carolyn Kaster

Trump’s chief strategist Steve Bannon, a former head of the right-wing news site Breitbart, predicted at CPAC on Thursday that relations with the media would only get worse as the president rolls out his agenda.

“Unwise”

It is not uncommon for Republican and Democratic administrations to brief a limited number of select reporters on specific themes.

However, Friday’s White House event was initially billed as a regular briefing open to credentialed media before it was reconfigured as a closed event for a cherry-picked group of participants, taking place in Spicer’s office.

A number of outlets that regularly cover the White House, including newswires Reuters and Bloomberg, attended. They are part of what is known as the “pool,” a small group of journalists who have access to certain events and share the contents with other media.

The Associated Press boycotted the event in protest at the exclusion of certain colleagues, which included The Los Angeles Times and Politico.

AFP was not included despite being part of the press pool. Its journalist protested, and attended the briefing uninvited.

During the off-camera briefing, Spicer said that the White House has shown an “abundance of accessibility… making ourselves, our team and our briefing room more accessible than probably any previous administration.”

He gave no explanation for the media selection.

As protests erupted over the incident, a December interview re-emerged in which Spicer told Politico that the Trump White House would never ban a news outlet.

Conservative, liberal or otherwise, I think that’s what makes a democracy a democracy versus a dictatorship.

Ari Fleischer, a former spokesman for George W Bush, said he viewed the White House’s stance as “unwise and counterproductive,” but also argued for Friday’s incident to be kept in perspective.

“Press secretaries need to meet with the whole press,” Fleischer told CNN.

But beyond that, there is nothing unusual about presidents meeting with selected reporters, and White House staffs do it all the time too.

With reporting from Gráinne Ní Aodha

- © AFP, 2017

Read: Trump appeals for money from supporters to combat ‘nasty attacks by fake news media’

Read: Michael Healy-Rae says Trump’s view on deregulation ‘shows intelligence of the man’

Author
View 51 comments
Close
51 Comments
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Joe Howard
    Favourite Joe Howard
    Report
    Feb 26th 2017, 8:08 AM

    Maybe Alec Baldwin can attend in his place.

    233
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Simon Power
    Favourite Simon Power
    Report
    Feb 26th 2017, 7:47 AM

    “America,” the series finale, is gripping stuff. I can’t wait to see the big reveal. I’m guessing that Putin and Trump are estranged brothers from another mother.

    173
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Drew TheChinaman :)
    Favourite Drew TheChinaman :)
    Report
    Feb 26th 2017, 11:43 AM

    I can’t wait until Scooby and the gang pull the mask off Kelly Anne Conway…

    43
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Francis Mc Carthy
    Favourite Francis Mc Carthy
    Report
    Feb 26th 2017, 7:37 AM

    Such a delicate snowflake

    121
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Mel Fitzpatrick
    Favourite Mel Fitzpatrick
    Report
    Feb 26th 2017, 7:45 AM

    I know he’s an obnoxious inept individual but it’s starting to get a little concerning how things are developing with this presidency.

    166
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Tony Daly
    Favourite Tony Daly
    Report
    Feb 26th 2017, 9:55 AM

    @Mel Fitzpatrick: it’s just a case of Trump’s true colours emerging.

    49
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Stephen murphy
    Favourite Stephen murphy
    Report
    Feb 26th 2017, 2:37 PM

    @Tony Daly: Orange or Yellow?

    9
    See 3 more replies ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Deborah Behan
    Favourite Deborah Behan
    Report
    Feb 26th 2017, 2:39 PM

    @Stephen benign or malignant?

    4
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute The Crant
    Favourite The Crant
    Report
    Feb 26th 2017, 8:04 PM

    @Mel Fitzpatrick: Why should Trump attend? They deal in fake news, let them at it. I see in to-days Sunday Times page 5, RTE and the other broadcast media outlets are getting loads of complaints. Ray Darcy is the worst. 6.01 news is getting a lot too and Vincent Browne. Why is this mo on the Journal.ie?

    The media must realize it is not the boss any more, and that is good.

    2
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Mel Fitzpatrick
    Favourite Mel Fitzpatrick
    Report
    Feb 26th 2017, 8:12 PM

    @The Crant “Why should Trump attend?” Wow…. Just. Wow. In the words of A. Kiedis “If you have to ask you’ll never know”

    7
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Panem et Circenses
    Favourite Panem et Circenses
    Report
    Feb 26th 2017, 8:02 AM

    Like a little spoiled child.

    141
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Rosa Parks
    Favourite Rosa Parks
    Report
    Feb 26th 2017, 8:10 AM

    @Panem et Circenses: No your confusing them with the “Indivisible” protesters turning up at the Republican congressmens town halls.,

    Which brings me to another point. Note the dramatic difference in tone from the media when covering Indivisible, compared to the Tea Party protests in 2009. http://video.foxnews.com/v/5334762980001/?#sp=show-clips

    37
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Larissa Caroline Nikolaus
    Favourite Larissa Caroline Nikolaus
    Report
    Feb 26th 2017, 9:25 AM

    Rosa Parks, please change your pseudonym, you are a disgrace to that name

    101
    See 3 more replies ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Tony Daly
    Favourite Tony Daly
    Report
    Feb 26th 2017, 9:56 AM

    @Larissa Caroline Nikolaus: that’s what the alt right do.

    34
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Tony Canning
    Favourite Tony Canning
    Report
    Feb 26th 2017, 10:27 AM

    Rosa keeps persisting with this nonsense….

    36
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Deborah Behan
    Favourite Deborah Behan
    Report
    Feb 26th 2017, 2:38 PM

    I just scroll past “Rosa” comments now. Not bothered wasting my time reading them.

    10
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Noel Falkhall
    Favourite Noel Falkhall
    Report
    Feb 26th 2017, 8:56 AM

    It’s essentially a roast for charity…..he let Comedy Central do it. Grow a pair

    83
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute alphanautica
    Favourite alphanautica
    Report
    Feb 26th 2017, 8:31 AM

    Tiny Trump has just gotten even smaller

    74
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Early Cuyler
    Favourite Early Cuyler
    Report
    Feb 26th 2017, 10:35 AM

    @alphanautica: Forced meme. Crap attempt at using his own rhetoric against him.

    11
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Aaron O'Leary
    Favourite Aaron O'Leary
    Report
    Feb 26th 2017, 9:25 AM

    And the alt right have the audicity to call liberals “snowflakes” when their own knight in shining armour cries on Twitter when the press scrutinised him. Poor little snowflake.

    82
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Tony Daly
    Favourite Tony Daly
    Report
    Feb 26th 2017, 9:16 AM

    I’m pleased to see the conflict between Trump and part of the media. Part of the media is doing its job right.

    66
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Jed I. Knight
    Favourite Jed I. Knight
    Report
    Feb 26th 2017, 2:14 PM

    @Tony Daly: By doing this he’s encouraging this conflict to escalate, even presidents have to be careful when starting wars…

    8
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Reg
    Favourite Reg
    Report
    Feb 26th 2017, 9:11 AM

    The poor trumpflake.

    61
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Rosa Parks
    Favourite Rosa Parks
    Report
    Feb 26th 2017, 7:46 AM

    90% of the press are anti-Republican so its sortof a lions den situation.

    This is the nonsense they are coming out with, like this article where they claim Bannon was being “anti semitic” for using the words “globalist and corporatist media”. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/huppke/ct-trump-jewish-antisemitism-bannon-huppke-20170224-story.html

    47
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Tony Daly
    Favourite Tony Daly
    Report
    Feb 26th 2017, 9:53 AM

    @Rosa Parks: Bannon is not just bigoted against Jews. He is undiscriminating in his multifarious prejudices and hates.

    37
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Rosa Parks
    Favourite Rosa Parks
    Report
    Feb 26th 2017, 10:24 AM

    It’s ludicrous for the Anne Frank Centre to say that the word “corporate globalists’ is anti Semitic. Then against its boss Steve Goldstein was a staffer for current and firmer Democratic Senators Schumer and Lautenberg. It’s divisive Identity politics.

    17
    See 5 more replies ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Early Cuyler
    Favourite Early Cuyler
    Report
    Feb 26th 2017, 10:31 AM

    @Tony Daly: You know, i’d really love to see any proof of that.

    Cause for an antisemite he’s employed a lot of jews, was employed by a jew, and currently works with a lot of jews in the WH. Breitbart could be seen as the most pro-Israeli publication going! Your polar opposites used to refer to it as kikebart ffs.

    You, and anyone else who makes this assertion, are straight up liars. And anyone who doesn’t know the truth is free to go to Breitbart and search for “jew” or “Israel”. One of the top articles was Breitbart calling out HuffPo for anti-jewish rhetoric!

    Liars.

    13
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Louis Jacob
    Favourite Louis Jacob
    Report
    Feb 26th 2017, 1:50 PM

    @Early Cuyler: your comment is actually anti Semitic. There are plenty of pro Israel Jew haters in the states… Very ignorant.

    9
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Early Cuyler
    Favourite Early Cuyler
    Report
    Feb 26th 2017, 2:16 PM

    @Louis Jacob: Yeah yeah blah blah. If you’re going to call me an antisemite you could at least point out why? Address the other points?

    Sure why even make a point when you can call people nasty names instead?

    4
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Early Cuyler
    Favourite Early Cuyler
    Report
    Feb 26th 2017, 2:18 PM

    @Louis Jacob: Are you implying that Bannon is a Christian Zionist who only supports Israel because he wants to bring about the end days?

    Ha.

    Hahaha.

    Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.

    Oh crap, wet meself.

    4
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute The Crant
    Favourite The Crant
    Report
    Feb 26th 2017, 8:05 PM

    @Tony Daly: what does the word “multifarious” mean?

    2
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Tony Daly
    Favourite Tony Daly
    Report
    Feb 26th 2017, 9:15 AM

    The Fourth Estate is part of a healthy democracy. .

    It would be odd and not a little concerning if Trump had an affable and amicable relationship with a free media.

    The conflict between Trumo and the media is healthy and positive. It means that part of the media has not yet been brought.

    33
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Aaron O'Leary
    Favourite Aaron O'Leary
    Report
    Feb 26th 2017, 9:32 AM

    @Tony Daly: Banning media outlets who reported on the leaks in an unfavourable view yesterday from attending a briefing whilst allowing breitbart etc to attend is an unhealthy relationship with the press.

    36
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Aaron O'Leary
    Favourite Aaron O'Leary
    Report
    Feb 26th 2017, 9:34 AM

    @Tony Daly: Not questioning you at all and I do agree with you, just adding my point there.

    16
    See 3 more replies ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Tony Daly
    Favourite Tony Daly
    Report
    Feb 26th 2017, 9:52 AM

    @Aaron O’Leary: I’m happy to seeTrump’s declaration of war against the non-compliant media.

    Over time, an increasing number of Americans will come to realise the true nature of the authoritarian and repressive monster that they elected.

    The alt-right complain vociferously about not being allowed freedom of expression but, paradoxically, seek to engage in suppression of a liberal media. Trump is starting to show his true colours.

    Trump shares with the alt right a similar value system, an embedded chip on the shoulder over a perception of lost privilege and the notion that the most horrible and hateful things can be said if drsssed up in the guise of fake humour.

    31
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Early Cuyler
    Favourite Early Cuyler
    Report
    Feb 26th 2017, 10:38 AM

    @Tony Daly: If you’re so righteous and correct why do you need to go around spreading lies?

    10
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute The Crant
    Favourite The Crant
    Report
    Feb 26th 2017, 8:13 PM

    @Tony Daly: There is no obligation on any politician to tell the media anything. Enda Kenny proved that. Its the job of the Media to work hard to get real high value news, no one wants fake news any more and no one wants opinion. Here in Co. Monaghan the Sunday Independent is not selling. No one wants Owen Harris, Dan O’Brien or Gene Kerrigan’s opinion. People can figure that out for themselves. O’Brien said Trump would not get elected and readers lost a lot of money betting on Hillary. No one wants that. He never appologised.

    Trump would be sitting down having dinner with his wife in a hornets nest of screwed up snowflakes ordering him to let in millions of immigrants. Not likely.

    3
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Liam John Bradshaw
    Favourite Liam John Bradshaw
    Report
    Feb 26th 2017, 9:34 AM

    This Tyrant just can’t go through the day without being in the news! He’s just obsessed with it, the very man who created False News!

    45
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute John003
    Favourite John003
    Report
    Feb 26th 2017, 9:52 AM

    Would be a bit like Gerry Adams or Mary Lou not going to a Sunday Independent dinner where they would be roasted…. Lots of Army council jokes for instance….Would it really be the end of Irish democracy if they turned down such an invitation….You can say Trump is narsarisstic but the US media not far behind it taking themselves very seriously…….

    16
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Rosa Parks
    Favourite Rosa Parks
    Report
    Feb 26th 2017, 10:25 AM

    The Left should learn to lose with dignity.

    19
    See 1 more reply ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Carlin Ite
    Favourite Carlin Ite
    Report
    Feb 26th 2017, 12:07 PM

    Who is left wing in this whole scenario? Bernie sanders and Gill Stein are not involved. Do you really think CNN, NBC etc are left?

    21
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Carlin Ite
    Favourite Carlin Ite
    Report
    Feb 26th 2017, 9:19 AM

    I think that’s a good thing. The correspondence dinner was a disgusting marriage between press and politicians. If the press had integrity they would be the ones not going regardless of who sits in the Oval Office. Amira Hass once said a journalists role is to question power. Hard to do that when your costing up at an expensive meal.

    25
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Aaron O'Leary
    Favourite Aaron O'Leary
    Report
    Feb 26th 2017, 9:28 AM

    @Carlin Ite:Hard to do that when the President just issued a ban yesterday at an odd-camera briefing on any media organisation that is scrutizing him and reporting on genuine news with regards his leaks. Yet he allows in the likes of Breitbart, even Fox News called the President out on this decision. The man wants to open up libel laws. He is whole heartedly against the freedom of the press.

    27
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Carlin Ite
    Favourite Carlin Ite
    Report
    Feb 26th 2017, 9:36 AM

    Aaron my point is that respectable journalist who love their trade shouldn’t want to go to something like that. Obama use to laugh and smile with them. When he signed to national defence authorisation act Mother Jones were one of the few to cover it.

    17
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute D'Murph
    Favourite D'Murph
    Report
    Feb 26th 2017, 11:22 AM

    Comparisons to Nixon …. I wonder.
    This guys got to get a grip.

    12
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Emmet O'Keeffe
    Favourite Emmet O'Keeffe
    Report
    Feb 26th 2017, 10:47 AM

    Donald is right not to dignify the gathering with his presence. Though I have to admit I was looking forward to watching him rip them to shreds from the podium.
    On a very Positive note for Donald it appears that Hilary Clinton is lining up another bid for the White House in 2020, this despite the fact that the Washington Post declared Hillary Clinton the winner for the worst candidate award in the 2016 Presidential Election.
    She’s had some plastic surgery, she’s still talking the same nonsense, she’s still as deluded as ever.
    The odds on Donald Trump doing a second term in the White House have just shortened dramatically.
    Get on now.

    12
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Séa Graham
    Favourite Séa Graham
    Report
    Feb 26th 2017, 10:25 AM
    6
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Daisy Daisy
    Favourite Daisy Daisy
    Report
    Feb 26th 2017, 1:11 PM

    Petulant, spoiled brat. Lugenpresse refuses to comply so he throws a strop. At least Reagan had a proper excuse for missing it.

    5
Submit a report
Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
Thank you for the feedback
Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.
JournalTv
News in 60 seconds