Now that Donald Trump is in office, the White House Correspondents Dinner—known in DC as “nerd prom”—should be canceled to preserve the seriousness of the media’s job as the Fourth Estate, according to several left-leaning journalists.
Apparently unfamiliar with the media’s duty to hold those in power accountable regardless of their political affiliation, Slate reporter Jacob Weisberg called on the Trump Administration to strike the dinner, since it would be strange to rub elbows with Donald as the media pries into his background and policies.
Members of the White House Correspondent’s Association, which holds the star-studded dinner ever year, seemed to be leaning in that direction.
Traditionally, the WHCD is supposed to give the press, who are at the mercy of the President’s communications team, an opportunity to drink White House-provided wine and eat White House-provided food while they listen to a comedian roast the President and his staff. In turn the President also gets an opportunity to poke fun at himself.
The dinner has always been a hot-ticket event in Washington, but during the Obama years, the dinner expanded into a red carpet-style shindig, with major news organizations inviting Hollywood stars to dine alongside anchors and reporters.
Apparently, though, it’s just too much fun for such serious media personalities now tasked with such a sobering job as reporting on Donald Trump.
Despite the chatter about canceling the event, it’s unlikely that even Trump will stop reporters from the only night they get to shed their cargo pants for formal wear and mingle one-on-one with such cultural luminaries as the Kardashian sisters.
Many of them fear Trump will crack down on press freedoms. But reports that a DOJ sweep netted confidential phone records from a roomful of Associated Press reporters during Obama’s tenure didn’t stop them from packing the room that same year.
