The gala dinner for accredited journalists at the White House returned on Saturday night after two years, with the usual jokes about Washington and the press and, also, with the president of the United States.
The White House Correspondents Association dinner, suspended by the coronavirus in 2020 and 2021had Democratic President Joe Biden as its top star, the first president to attend it in six years.
His predecessor, the Republican Donald Trump declined to participate in the event due to his very poor relationship with the press.
At the ostentatious party and before 2,600 journalists, officials and celebrities, a Biden in the usual tuxedo made jokes about his low popularity ratings, about Trump and the press and accepted a reprimand from the presenter, Trevor Noah.
Also there were serious references to the conflict in Ukraine, challenges to democracy and media freedoms at home and abroad.
“I am very excited to be here tonight with the only group of Americans with a lower approval rating than me,” Biden said, referring to reporters.
The White House News Correspondents Association, the WHCA, has hosted presidents at an annual dinner of black tie since 1924.
But the ceremony – loved by some, reviled by others – came to a halt under the double impact of Trump’s presidency, at odds with the media, and Covid-19.
So bringing them together at the Washington Hilton was a return to business as usual.
Biden acknowledged that the last few years had been tough, due to the coronavirus and Trump, whom he described as a “plague.”
“We had a horrible plague…followed by two years of Covid,” he said, sparking laughter from those present.
His comments then took a more serious turn, acknowledging the work of journalists covering the war in Ukraine and warning of “a poison running through our democracy… with disinformation on the rise.”
“You free press are more important than ever in this century,” Biden said.
At dinner too paid tribute to the sacrifices made by journalists in war zonesreported the AFP news agency.
With the ups and downs of the pandemic, some questioned the presence of the 79-year-old president, since his vice president Kamala Harris tested positive for the virus last week.
Although Biden skipped the meal out of an abundance of caution, he did not wear a mask. “Trevor, the good news is that now you can annoy the president of the United States,” the president said when introducing the comedian. “And unlike (what would happen in) Moscow, you will not go to jail.”
Noah opened his speech by saying that he was honored to host the “nation’s most distinguished event.”
Journalists “have been very harsh on you, which I don’t understand,” he joked.
“Since you’ve come into office, things are really looking up, you know, gas’s up, rent’s up, food’s up. Everything.”
Biden, who laughed throughout Noah’s show, seems to want to draw a line with Trump, who not only did not attend the dinner, but called reporters “enemies of the people.”
The last WHCA gala, before the pandemic broke out, was in 2019 and the president did not attend. The year before, comedian Michelle Wolf’s jokes upset Trump’s press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
WHCA President Steven Portnoy, an employee of CBS radio, said it was time to return to tradition with an evening dedicated to the great journalists of history, awards for those of today and tribute “to the colleagues who died in Ukraine”.
Noah echoed the sentiment, as his speech took a serious turn calling the right to a free press a “blessing.”
“Ask yourself this question: if the Russian journalists who are losing… their freedom for daring to report on what their own government is doing… if they had what you have, would they use it in the same way?”
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