Bee plans her own correspondents’ dinner
Comedian Samantha Bee on Monday announced a splashy alternative to the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, the annual schmoozefest that brings together journalists and the people they cover, along with an assortment of advertisers and random Hollywood types.
Bee touted her event, which will be held at the Willard hotel in Washington, D.C., on April 29 (same as the long- running black- tie dinner), as a draw for “journalists and non-irritating celebrities from around the world” and promised to donate proceeds to the Committee to Protect Journalists, an organization that supports press freedom around the world, according to a news release from TBS, the network that airs Bee’s newsy satire show Full Frontal.
The comedian elaborated on the inspiration for the “Not the White House Correspondents’ Dinner” in an interview with The New York Times, explaining her event wasn’t intended to “comment on or compete with” the existing press dinner, where a comedian traditionally pokes fun at the president. Instead, it will be a forum for her and other funny folk to make all the Trump jokes they want, without pulling punches (the implication being that whoever emcees the WHCA din- ner might be tempted to lob softballs at Trump).
“We just want to be there in case something happens — or doesn’t happen — and ensure that we get to properly roast the president,” she told the Times.
Asked for comment on the new competition, WHCA president Jeff Mason shared a statement that didn’t mention Bee or her dinner. “The WHCA looks forward to hosting our annual dinner this year as we do every year to celebrate the First Amendment, reward some of the finest reporting of the past year and recognize promising young student journalists,” it read.
The target of Bee’s dinner is an important distinction: If the event was billed as explicitly anti-President Donald Trump, many journos would likely shy away for fear of appearing biased. Andrew Seaman, chair of the ethics committee for the Society of Professional Journalists, said it’s fine for journos to attend an event framed as advocating for press freedom and open government. “But if it’s designed as an anti-Trump event, I don’t think that’s acceptable for journalists,” he said.
A TBS rep didn’t return a call seeking more information about the dinner, which will likely air on the cable network. But Bee clearly hopes it’s a draw for the Fourth Estate. “We suspect some members of the press may find themselves unexpectedly free that night,” the news release reads, “and we want to feed them and give them hugs.”
Of course, Bee’s event underscores t he heightened scrutiny that will likely meet the WHCA dinner with Trump as the guest of honour. There’s been plenty of griping in the past about the optics of reporters hobnobbing with a White House that was hostile to the fourth estate. And that was the Obama years, well before there was a president who has declared a war on the press and dismissed major news outlets as “FAKE NEWS” and a “failing pile of garbage.”
All of which might make the annual tradition of playing nice with the president a little harder for the media to stomach this year, Seaman noted.