Washington, DC – After unprecedented violence in April, the White House Correspondents’ Dinner is trying again.
The annual – and perennially controversial – event had originally been held in April, but it was swiftly derailed after a gunman attempted to storm the proceedings in an alleged effort to assassinate United States President Donald Trump.
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Trump has had a historically caustic relationship with the dinner, but had actually touted the celebration this year, calling it a “very good thing” and a “HOT ticket”.
He is set to attend its second iteration on Friday, though he will be surrounded by increased security.
Trump’s sentiment represents a sea change from his first term, beginning in ۲۰۱۷, when the newly elected president declared the soiree “dead” and declined to attend over the next four years.
Beyond Trump, the White House Correspondents’ Dinner has long been a lightning rod for criticism among media professionals. Calls for the dinner to be abandoned entirely only grew after the April imbroglio.
Prominent journalists have questioned its purpose, optics and ethics, particularly given Trump’s pugnacious approach to the press. The recent subpoena of New York Times journalists has further piqued those criticisms.
Nicholas Lemann, former dean of Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, called the event “Washington journalism as a Rotary Club meeting”.
The dinner with the president “is an outdated tradition” that “harms all of journalism“, according to Kelly McBride, senior vice president of The Poynter Institute.
For her part, Weijia Jiang, president of the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA), said that rescheduling the event was “not automatic” and was only happening “after thoughtful consideration and input from our members”.
So, what is the controversial dinner, when was it rescheduled for, how will it be different, and why is Trump on board?
When is it?
The dinner will be held on Friday, July ۲۴.
Doors open at ۶pm local (۲۲:۰۰ GMT) and the dinner begins at ۷pm (۲۳:۰۰ GMT).
Where is it?
The event will be held at the Waldorf Astoria in Washington, DC, formerly known as the Trump International Hotel.
It is a change of venue from the Washington Hilton, where the April dinner was held. The initial choice of the sprawling complex has been criticised as difficult to secure.
What is this dinner?
The WHCA hosts an annual black-tie gala for politicians and reporters, although it is well attended by other celebrities.
The night is actually a fundraising event for the WHCA, which charges $۴۸۰ per ticket. The WHCA then directs the proceeds towards journalism awards and scholarships.
The dinner has often been criticised for appearing to be an event for the Washington press corps to hobnob with the political elites who are regularly the subject of their reporting, raising questions of impartiality.
Former Columbia Journalism School dean Nicholas Lemann, speaking to The New York Times, suggested that seeing journalists being chummy with public officials probably fails to help “reverse journalism’s falling public trust numbers”.
The dinner has also been criticised for its Hollywood-like glitz, with critics charging media networks with using it to market their on-air personalities and celebrities, shifting the emphasis from hard news reporting.
On occasion, the event has come under fire for its programming.
In ۲۰۱۸, Michelle Wolf’s performance, which held few punches when it came to Trump and the press corps that covers him, divided attendees. The night prompted the WHCA to move away from headlining comedians.
This year, mentalist Oz Pearlman was scheduled to perform.
Sitting US presidents have customarily attended at least one White House Correspondents’ Dinner during their tenure.
Why was it delayed?
The original ۲۰۲۶ White House Correspondents’ Dinner was disrupted and ended early when Cole Tomas Allen stormed the gala venue, the Washington Hilton, armed with guns and knives.
Allen raced through a security checkpoint, shooting a Secret Service officer and allegedly attempting to assassinate President Trump, who was in attendance.
Trump was hurried from the dinner, Allen was captured, and the injured Secret Service officer survived.
Trump subsequently claimed that the attack highlighted the need for his planned White House ballroom, which he said would be “much more secure … we need the ballroom”.
The project has been scrutinised for transforming the iconic image of the White House and for its high price tag for taxpayers.
Trump has been heavily critical of security at the Washington Hilton, which hosts many events in Washington, DC. It was also the site of the ۱۹۸۱ assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan.
After the April incident, Trump almost immediately said that the dinner would be rescheduled. It was not until early June that the WHCA confirmed it would take place on July ۲۴.
Why was it rescheduled?
The answer in the short term appears to be defiance.
Both WHCA’s president Jiang and the US president emphasised that rescheduling the gala was important to demonstrate a refusal to be intimidated by political violence.
Jiang, who is also a reporter for US broadcaster CBS, said the association “will not allow an act of violence to have the last word”.
Trump asserted that Americans “cannot allow Lunatics to change our way of life” and that he intended to give remarks at the event.
What will be different this time?
Instead of the Hilton, the upcoming July event will be held at the Waldorf Astoria, formerly Trump International Hotel. The Trump Organization sold the leasing rights in ۲۰۲۲.
The New York Post reported that the ballroom at the Waldorf Astoria holds only about ۱,۰۰۰ people, down from the ۲,۵۰۰ who reportedly attended the dinner at the Hilton.
The smaller number of attendees is intended to ease the burden of on-site security.
Access to the event will be limited to a single entrance with security coordinated between a private security firm and the US Secret Service – employing magnetometers, according to the New York Post. All other entrances will be sealed during the event.
Attendees have been warned to expect additional time to clear security screening. There will be cocktail receptions prior to the programme.
According to The Well News website, the original programming, including mentalist Pearlman, will be retained.
Although Trump is still scheduled to give remarks, the US president has indicated that the character of his speech may have changed.
After the April ۲۵ dinner was attacked, Trump struck a mild tone, saying that he was unsure if he could “ever be as rough” as he had planned to be in his speech that night.
Trump initially said he intended to attend the dinner for the first time because the reporters had accepted him as one of the greatest US presidents, if not the greatest.
Still, he said that he had been “all set to really rip it” and give “the most inappropriate speech ever made”.
However, after the attack, he said he might change the “rather nasty statements” he had planned to give at the original venue.
Will the detente hold?
Trump said that the aborted dinner “was supposed to bring together members of both parties with members of the press, and in a certain way, it did”, and that the attendees were “totally unified”.
He went on to offer a conciliatory message, saying that the various parties and ideologies needed to resolve their differences.
However, any bonhomie between Trump and the press corps has proven ephemeral.
The US president walked out of a contentious interview with an NBC reporter in June. In early July, Trump’s Department of Justice subpoenaed several New York Times journalists regarding an article about the new Qatari-funded Air Force One, prompting outrage from many major news networks and accusations of stifling freedom of speech.
Indeed, even before the April date, journalist organisations and rights groups urged the WHCA to issue a “forthright message” to Trump about the freedom of the press, protected under the First Amendment to the US Constitution.
In an open letter, the Society of Professional Journalists, Freedom of Press Foundation, the National Association of Black Journalists, along with others, urged their colleagues in the White House press corps to make a statement about what they termed “the most systematic and comprehensive assault on freedom of the press by a sitting American president”.
The letter urged the WHCA to “fight back against any officeholder who has waged systemic war against the journalists whose work the dinner celebrates”.
They also included a lengthy and detailed list of what they considered to be Trump’s attacks on free journalism.
