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The White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA) is an organization of journalists who cover the White House and the President of the United States. The WHCA was founded in 1914 by journalists in response to an unfounded rumor that a Congressional committee would select which journalists could attend press conferences of President Woodrow Wilson. Among the issues handled by the WHCA are press access to the President and physical conditions in White House press briefing rooms.

Executives

The WHCA elects four officers and five board members from within its ranks once a year.

• 2010-2011 Officers
  • David Jackson of USA Today, President
  • Caren Bohan of Reuters, Vice President
  • Steve Scully of C-SPAN, Secretary
  • Doug Mills of The New York Times, Treasurer

• 2010-2011 Board Members
  • Carol Lee, Wall Street Journal
  • Michael Scherer, Time Magazine
  • Julie Mason, Politico
  • Don Gonyea, NPR
  • Ed Henry, CNN

Past Presidents

White House Press Room

The WHCA is responsible for assigning seating in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room in the West Wing of the White House.

WHCA Dinner

The WHCA's annual dinner, begun in 1920, has become a Washington, D.C. tradition and is usually attended by the President and Vice President. Thirteen presidents have attended a WHCA dinner, beginning with Calvin Coolidge in 1924. The dinner is traditionally held on the evening of the last Saturday in April at the Washington Hilton.

Prior to World War II, the annual dinner featured singing between courses, a homemade movie and an hour-long, post-dinner show with big-name performers." In recent years the featured speaker has often been a comedian, with the dinner taking on the form of a roast, especially of the President.

In several recent years, the dinner has fallen shortly after major national events and tragedies, such as the Oklahoma City bombing, the Siege at Waco, Texas, the Columbine shooting, and the Virginia Tech Massacre, thus dampening the spirit of the event.

Awards

The Merriman Smith Memorial Award

Awarded for outstanding examples of deadline reporting.

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (April 2011)

The Aldo Beckman Memorial Award

Awarded for journalistic excellence.

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (April 2011)

The Edgar A. Poe Memorial Award

Awarded for excellence on a story of national or regional significance.

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (April 2011)

Dinner criticisms

The WHCD has been increasingly criticized as an example of the coziness between the White House press corps and the Administration. The dinner typically includes a skit, either live or videotaped, by the sitting President in which he mocks himself, for the amusement of the press corps. The press corps, in turn, hobnobs with Administration officials, even those who are unpopular and are not regularly cooperative with the press. Increasing scrutiny by bloggers has contributed to added public focus on this friendliness.

After the 2007 dinner, New York Times columnist Frank Rich implied that the Times will no longer participate in the dinners. Rich said that the event is "a crystallization of the press's failures in the post-9/11 era" because it "illustrates how easily a propaganda-driven White House can enlist the Washington news media in its shows."

In recent years, the dinners have drawn increasing public attention each year as the entertainers draw more interest, and the guest list grows "more Hollywood". The attention given to the guest list and entertainers often overshadows the intended purpose of the dinner, which is to "acknowledge award-winners, present scholarships, and give the press and the president an evening of friendly appreciation." This has led to an atmosphere of coming the event only to "see and be seen." This usually takes place at pre-dinner receptions and post-dinner parties hosted by various media organizations, which are often a bigger draw and can be more exclusive than the dinners themselves. Other journalistic organizations have been excluded from the event altogether.

Performers

This section may contain unverified or indiscriminate information in embedded lists. Please help clean up the lists by removing items or incorporating them into the text of the article. (April 2011)

See also

• Gridiron Club
• National Press Club
• Radio and Television Correspondents' Association

References

1. ^ Unverifiable leak leads to modern WHCA, from the WHCA website
2. ^ Joe Strupp, Incoming WHCA Prez: Next Year's Dinner Will Not Be 'Politically Correct' , Editor and Publisher, April 25, 2007
3. WHCA. "WHCA 2010-2011 Officers and Board". Retrieved 20 July 2010.
4. ^ "The 2000 WHCA Awards" (PDF). White House Correspondents' Association.
5. ^ Smith, Mark. "WHCA Names 2001 Award Winners" (PDF). White House Correspondents' Association. Retrieved 23 April 2011.
6. ^ Smith, Mark. "WHCA Names 2002 Award Winners" (PDF). White House Correspondents' Association. Retrieved 23 April 2011.
7. ^ Smith, Mark. "WHCA Names 2003 Award Winners" (PDF). White House Correspondents' Association. Retrieved 23 April 2011.
8. ^ Smith, Mike. "WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENTS' ASSOCIATION NAMES 2004 AWARD WINNERS" (PDF). White House Correspondents' Association. Retrieved 23 April 2011.
9. ^ Mills, Doug. "WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENTS' ASSOCIATION NAMES 2005 AWARD WINNERS" (PDF). White House Correspondents' Association. Retrieved 23 April 2011.
10. ^ Compton, Ann. "WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENTS' ASSOCIATION NAMES 2006 AWARD WINNERS" (PDF). White House Correspondents' Association. Retrieved 23 April 2011.
11. ^ Whiston, Julia. "White House Correspondents' Association Names 2007 Award Winners" (PDF). White House Correspondents' Assoication. Retrieved 25 April 2011.
12. ^ Joe Strupp, WHCA Prez Defends Dinner Amid Criticism Of 'Coziness' and Rich Little, Editor and Publisher, April 24, 2007
13. ^ Frank Rich: All the President’s Press, New York Times, April 29, 2007
14. Libby Copeland and Dana Milbank, The In-Crowd Steps Out: After the Correspondents' Dinner, Parties Are Icing on the Cake, Washington Post, April 23, 2007
15. Taking Names, Washington Times, April 23, 2007
16. Julie Mason, News Watch: The White House blog, Houston Chronicle, April 22, 2007
17. Ashley Parker, Celeb-Watching at the Correspondents Dinner, The Caucus blog, New York Times, April 22, 2007
18. Jeff Dufour and Patrick Gavin, Yeas & Nays, The (Washington) Examiner, April 23, 2007
19. David Wiegel (April 14, 2010). "WorldNetDaily wants respect!". The Washington Post. Washington, D.C.: The Washington Post Company. Retrieved April 19, 2010. The venerable (in online terms) far-right news site takes legal action to demand three tables -- which it says it will gladly pay for -- at the May 1 White House Correspondents' Dinner.
20. Andy Barr (April 15, 2010). "White House Correspondents Association says World Net Daily lawsuit is 'futile'". Politico. Arlington, VA: Capitol News Company LLC. Retrieved April 19, 2010. White House Correspondents Association President Ed Chen said Wednesday that a lawsuit being threatened by World Net Daily over its inability to get three tables to the dinner is "futile."
21. ^ Humor played big role in Ford's persona, a December 2006 Deseret News article via findarticles.com
22. Remarks at the Annual White House Correspondents Association Dinner, from the website of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library
23. "Impressionist Jim Morris began his Bush bit in silence - just moving his head, sort of stammering, trying to get some words out. The president , watching Morris do his inarticulate-thing, started laughing hard, and finally held his big white dinner napkin over his face." The Washington Post - also Coverage By the Seattle Post-Intelligencer's Joel Connelly http://www.seattlepi.com/archives/1989/8901120012.asp
24. "The comic genius brought in to entertain at the association's 77th annual black-tie dinner by Sheridan Broadcasting Company's Robert Ellison, the first and only Black president of the elite organization, brought down the house with hilarious quips and jokes about Bush's less than impressive fishing skills." Jet Magazine, May 20, 1991.
25. 1997 White House Correspondents' Dinner - C-SPAN Video Library
26. Template:Google video
27. Inside Washington: Skewering comedy skit angers Bush and aides from US News and World Report
28. Bush Doesn't Joke at WHCA Dinner Due to Virginia Tech Killings—But Rich Little Says 'Nuts', an Editor & Publisher article
29. Horowitz, Jason (May 2, 2010). "'Healthy' relations on display at White House Correspondents' Association Dinner". The Washington Post.
30. de Moraes, Lisa (January 22, 2010). "Jay Leno will headline the White House Correspondents Dinner". The Washington Post.
31. Leno Whcd Jokes Recycled - Hillary Frey & Alexander Trowbridge | Politico Click

External links

• White House Correspondents' Association
• White House Correspondents' Association Dinner complete coverage at C-SPAN

• Organizations based in Washington, D.C.
• Journalism-related professional associations
• 1914 establishments in the United States