With no Trump, dinner in D.C. focuses on press

WASHINGTON — Washington journalists celebrated the First Amendment during the annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner, an event that lacked the glitter of previous years because the president of the United States did not attend.

With President Donald Trump sending his regrets, the attention was no longer focused on an in-person roasting of the commander in chief and his humorous remarks about politics and the media.

Instead, speakers at the dinner promoted press freedom and responsibility, and challenged Trump’s accusations about dishonest reporting.

Watergate reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein recounted what they learned about journalism during their reporting more than 40 years ago for The Washington Post. Their work helped lead to President Richard Nixon’s resignation.

“Like politicians and presidents sometimes, perhaps too frequently, we make mistakes and go too far,” Woodward said. “When that happens we should own up to it. But the effort today to get this best-obtainable version of the truth is largely made in good faith. Mr. President, the media is not ‘fake news,’” he said.

The evening included humor aimed at the media and at Trump.

“We’ve got to address the elephant that’s not in the room,” said the entertainment headliner, Hasan Minhaj of The Daily Show on TV’s Comedy Central. “The leader of our country is not here. And that’s because he lives in Moscow. It’s a very long flight. As for the other guy, I think he’s in Pennsylvania because he can’t take a joke.”

Trump was indeed in Pennsylvania at a scheduled rally in Harrisburg to mark his 100th day in office. Trump began his rally remarks with criticism of the news media, and dismissed the dinner and its participants.

Trump is the first president since Ronald Reagan in 1981 to skip the event, which officially began in 1921. At the time, Reagan was recovering from an assassination attempt.