From the Left

/

Politics

Can the White House correspondents' dinner be saved?

By Clarence Page, Tribune Content Agency on

Could this be the end of "nerd prom?" Major news organizations have threatened to withdraw financial support from the White House Correspondents' Association's annual spring dinner, affectionately known among Washington's media workers as "nerd prom," if the organization doesn't drop its traditional comedy act from the program.

Yes, as you may have guessed, the issue has erupted after comedian Michelle Wolf's stand-up routine at Saturday's dinner. Depending on whose side you're on, it sparked outrage or accolades for her raunchy roasts of President Donald Trump -- who was not in the room -- and his staff, particularly press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders and counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway. Both were in attendance and not smiling much at the roasting.

A sample: "Of course, Trump isn't here, if you haven't noticed," Wolf said at one point. "He's not here. And I know, I know, I would drag him here myself. But it turns out the president of the United States is the one p---- you're not allowed to grab."

I, too, was in the room, surrounded by people who were not always sure of whether to laugh or not. Wolf received strong applause as she finished but, unlike the previous year's edgy comic, "The Daily Show" correspondent Hasan Minhaj, no standing ovation.

The journalists in charge of the WHCA quickly learned that they had a new headache: complaints from their own members and outside critics concerned with public perceptions. With polls showing a worrisome dip in the public's trust of the media, too many viewers already presume that the entertainer is speaking for the journalists, even when he or she isn't.

To ease the heat, the WHCA released a statement Sunday night, lamenting how Wolf's routine "was not in the spirit" of the group's mission. Unfortunately, the irony in that complaint at a dinner dedicated to speech and press freedoms can hardly be ignored.

Other comedians rushed to Wolf's defense, including at least two other former WHCA dinner speakers, Stephen Colbert of CBS' "The Late Show" and Seth Meyers of NBC's "Late Night."

Olivier Knox, a SiriusXM correspondent who will take office this summer as the WHCA's next president, said on Monday that the association is gathering feedback and contemplating possible changes that might include dumping the comedian. "As somebody who has said for a very long time that the dinner should be 'boring,' that is to say focused on journalists and the work of good reporters," Knox told CNN's Brian Stelter, "I am very open to suggestions about how to change it."

 

For years a debate has been percolating in newsrooms and elsewhere over "nerd prom" and whether it has out-lived its usefulness. Founded in 1914 out of an effort to stop President Woodrow Wilson from discontinuing news conferences, the organization has expanded to promote excellence with awards, encourage journalism education with scholarships, call attention to journalists who have been killed or jailed around the globe, and encourage administrations to provide more access to journalists.

The annual dinner has been the organization's biggest fundraiser for those efforts. It also has provided a platform for presidents to give a humorous speech and display a sense of camaraderie as fellow Americans, no matter how much we may cross swords over questions of coverage.

But the event also has been dogged by hand-wringing over the appearance of journalists getting too close to their sources to maintain the adversarial role that prevents us from selling out. The growing attendance by Hollywood stars since the 1980s was fun, but it also brought complaints that the event was getting to be "too Hollywood." Those invitations have mostly ended in the Trump era, which at least has made parking easier.

Can "nerd prom" be saved? It's highly unlikely that the association will end the dinner, but news executives from Politico, CBS News and The Washington Post, among others, have said booking another controversial comedian would not be worth the risk, the Post reports.

Or they could take my suggestion as a concerned nonmember: Keep the entertainment, but let the president have the last word. As the closing speaker, he or, someday, she will be able to smooth whatever feathers might have been ruffled earlier or can choose to ruffle some more. Even Trump would have a hard time turning down that offer.

========

(E-mail Clarence Page at cpage@chicagotribune.com.)


(c) 2018 CLARENCE PAGE DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.

 

 

Comics

Ed Gamble Joel Pett Joey Weatherford Tim Campbell Dana Summers Al Goodwyn