Another sign that this year’s White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner will be a less flashy affair: CNN is breaking with its tradition of bringing big-name political players in favor of fresh-faced journalism students.
After some talk that the network – which President Donald Trump often derides as a source of “FAKE NEWS” – would skip the dinner altogether, CNN announced Tuesday morning that it “stands with the WHCA 100 percent, and looks forward to being part of an evening that focuses on funding scholarships and honoring great journalism.”
Wait, that’s the point of the dinner? That mission has been nearly eclipsed over the years by the hordes of Hollywood stars and the angling for high-profile dinner guests. And attendees from media organizations have been heavily criticized for looking too cozy with the folks they cover.
CNN’s move, eschewing its usual guests (the network last year brought the heads of the RNC and DNC, Reince Priebus and Debbie Wasserman Schultz, respectively), neatly avoids those critiques.
This year’s dinner already was shaping up to be a slightly different affair than in years past. Trump won’t be there, for starters. And the New Yorker canceled its annual soiree, and Bloomberg News and Vanity Fair nixed their star-studded after-parties. CNN, though, is expected to again throw its annual “hangover brunch” for journos. So it seems that even if the network is going for a more serious bent, it’s still planning to have a little fun.
(c) 2017, The Washington Post ยท Emily Heil
