White House Correspondents’ Association President Delivers Defiant Message Amid Trump’s Dinner Snub: We Are Not ‘The Enemy of the People’
The outgoing president of the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) delivered an impassioned defense of the organization and the profession of journalism at large during Saturday’s White House Correspondents’ dinner.
Speaking to an audience largely comprised of journalists at the Washington Hilton Saturday night, MSNBC host Eugene Daniels — the soon-to-be-departing WHCA leader — delivered a mission statement for the organization representing reporters who cover the White House.
“We care deeply about accuracy and take seriously the heavy responsibility of being stewards of the public’s trust,” Daniels said. “What we are not is the opposition. What we are not is the enemy of the people. And what we are not is the enemy of the state.”
The comment was an obvious shot at President Donald Trump — who has repeatedly referred to the media as the “enemy of the people.” Trump did not attend Saturday night’s dinner — marking the fifth time he has snubbed the event as president.
Trump’s administration has taken a number of measures to strip power from the WHCA and try to gain control of the journalists who cover them. Back in February, the White House announced it would be selecting the reporters who comprise each day’s press pool — the group which covers the president in smaller areas where access is limited. Since the White House took control of this assignment, more Trump-friendly journalists have gained access, while legacy outlets have seen their access reduced.
Despite the new measures, Daniels believes the challenges provided by the current administration are not unique.
“As long as there have been journalists, people who see it as their calling to dig through files, root out corruption, hold the powerful to account, there have leaders who want to stop them,” Daniels said. “People who would go to extreme lengths to keep the truth hidden from the very people who put them in power.”
Arguably no outlet has faced more scorn, during the first few months of Trump’s second term, than the Associated Press — which has been iced out of events for refusing to refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America.” Daniels took a moment to acknowledge the AP’s court battle with the administration to have their full access restored.
“To our friends at the Associated Press, you have taken on more than you should have to, but what you have held firm to from the very beginning is that your fight is not about you,” Daniels said. “It’s about the ability of every single person in this room to make free and independent editorial decisions without government interference. To Julie Pace, executive editor and senior vice president of the AP, on behalf of everyone in this room, all of the journalists yet to come. I want to thank you for never wavering or compromising. This board, this association, are forever in your debt.”
Watch above, via MSNBC.
