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The White House Correspondents’ Dinner “is going to feel a little different this year,” the group’s president acknowledged Saturday on the outset of the annual gathering of the White House press corps.
Eugene Daniels, White House Correspondents Assn. president who’s quickly to develop into an anchor for MSNBC, opened the occasion on the Washington Hilton Hotel with an acknowledgement that the WHCA has had a bumpy trip to this 12 months’s occasion.
“There’s no president, there’s no comedian, it’s just an intense focus on our fabulous scholarship students,” he mentioned. “Just a celebration of all of you — thousands of people with a shared commitment to the First Amendment.”
The WHCA usually has a distinguished comic ship roast-y remarks in regards to the president. This 12 months, the WHCA tapped Amber Ruffin for the gig in February however then disinvited her after complaints from conservatives about her sharp criticisms of Trump and the MAGA motion.
Daniels has been beneath fireplace for that call and for the WHCA’s response to Trump administration energy strikes in opposition to the media, together with taking management of group and assignments for the White House press pool. Daniels, a veteran of Politico who will quickly be one among three anchors of MSNBC’s Saturday and Sunday morning broadcast “The Weekend,” advised the group that the bigger mission of WHCA members — to report on the exercise of the President and the White House for the advantage of the American public — has not modified.
“I know this has been an extremely difficult year for all. It’s been difficult for this association. We’ve been tested, attacked,” Daniels mentioned.
Every morning, WHCA members “run to the White House — plane, train, automobile — with one mission — holding the powerful accountable, telling the stories of those who can’t tell them for themselves. That has never stopped, and it never will,” he mentioned.
Daniels didn’t point out the Ruffin scenario particularly however he did nod to it in thanking his fellow WHCA board members: “We have been through the ringer,” he mentioned.
At the tip of his temporary opening remarks, Daniels joked in regards to the famously aggressive nature of the White House press corps.
“If any breaking news happens, I’ll pop back up here let you all in on it, so you can feel free to let your hair down. Unless it’s too good. Then I’m just going to whisper to my new bosses here,” Daniels mentioned.
The WHCA has about 900 members. The WHCA has held an annual dinner since 1921. In his first time period, President Donald Trump turned the one president in a century to to not attend the occasion at the very least as soon as in his time period, an indication of Trump’s contentious relationship with the information media.
The dinner raises cash for the WHCA to fund scholarships and different journalism schooling outreach actions. In March, when the WHCA dropped Ruffin, Daniels advised members that it was essential to maintain the give attention to journalism this 12 months given the threats posed by Trump’s excessive antagonism.
“The WHCA board has unanimously decided we are no longer featuring a comedic performance this year. At this consequential moment for journalism, I want to ensure the focus is not on the politics of division but entirely on awarding our colleagues for their outstanding work and providing scholarship and mentorship to the next generation of journalists,” Daniels wrote.