Is the Drama Around the White House Correspondents' Dinner Worth It?
*By Tracey Cheek*
In a sharp contrast to years past, the White House Correspondents' Dinner will not feature a class clown, but a professor ー First Amendment historian Ron Chernow.
The sober-minded selection comes after comedian Michelle Wolf's take-no-prisoners routine at the last event in April ー her jabs at Sarah Huckabee Sanders, in particular, incited outrage from the White House and some of the reporters in attendance.
“\[Chernow is\] not going to be controversial, he’ll be a very ‘eat your vegetables’ performer," said Jon Levine, media editor at The Wrap
Chernow ー a significant deviation from the likes of Stephen Colbert and Wanda Sykes ー is best known for his thick volumes on American presidents. Perhaps most notably, his book on Alexander Hamilton inspired the hit Broadway musical and cultural phenomenon, “Hamilton.”
But does it really matter who gets up and tells jokesー or in this year's case, gives a history lesson ー to a group of journalists? Levine said that the White House Correspondents' Dinner has been criticized as an access journalism event, and for all the rumblings, it's not particularly important.
“The event has gotten criticism since as long as I can remember," he said." From a lot of journalists who say it’s weird to sort of be writing all this very tough coverage about Trump or Sarah Sanders or whatever, and then you go there and have drinks with everybody and pal around. It's a little strange.”
President Trump has not shown up to a White House Correspondents dinner since taking office, in contrast to his predecessors, and Levine is positive that this year will be no exception.
“There is not a question, he will not show up,” he said.
“It’s clearly just not his thing. He knows that he goes after the press every single day. It would be a hostile audience. It would be at best awkward.”
Stephanie Akin, Politics Reporter for CQ Roll Call, breaks down
Senator Manchin's donation pool, and highlights what this support means for the conservative Democrat as well as the Republican party.
The global oil benchmark surpassed $90 for the first time in more than seven years. This comes as growing tensions between Russia and Ukraine add to concerns about the already-tight market. Jay Hatfield, Chief Investment Officer at ICAP, joined Cheddar to discuss what this benchmark means for the oil industry, and what might happen if Russia does invade its neighbor.
With the Beijing Winter Olympics set to get underway on Friday, Dan Wolken, a national columnist for USA Today, joined Cheddar News to break down the big storylines as the pandemic and international conflicts threaten to cast a cloud over the event that is aspirationally seen as a beacon of international cooperation. Wolken noted specific issues over cybersecurity for visiting athletes and disputes over human rights leading to a diplomatic boycott have been making waves even before the opening ceremony. "So you've got sort of these barbs going back and forth already between the Americans and the Chinese, and things haven't even started yet," he said. "We don't even know what's going to happen once the games start and people actually start winning medals."
We are a week away from the 2022 Beijing Olympics, and China has already faced a host of problems leading up to the opening ceremony of the Beijing games. DJ Peterson, president of Longview Global Advisors, joins Cheddar News to discuss the many concerns and controversies surrounding the event.
In 2021, QAnon, the community which traffics in conspiracy theories saw a rapid growth in its numbers. As a result of vaccine rollouts, a number of conspiracies surrounding them also began to circulate which then led to the rise of "Anti-Vaxxers". As a result, the QAnon and anti-vax communities have become increasingly intertwined and the results could be costing lives. Senior Researcher at Media Matters Alex Kaplan, joined Cheddar to discuss more.
Supreme Court Justice Breyer has announced that he will officially retire from his post. He has served as the senior member of the more liberal wing in recent years. Now his retirement puts pressure on President Biden to decide on who will replace Breyer. Attorney and Media Editor at SCOTUS blog Katie Barlow, joined Cheddar to discuss more.
A long awaited report in the UK looking into the alleged parties held at 10 Downing Street during lockdown finds a culture of excessive drinking and a "failure of leadership" in Boris Johnson's government. Cheddar News speaks with international journalist Thomas Cole, who is closely monitoring latest developments.
While Donald Trump stated he would be willing to pardon Capitol Hill insurrectionists should he return to the presidency, the January 6 Committee issued subpoenas to 14 individuals who cast bogus electoral votes for the former president in seven states won by Joe Biden in 2020. Molly Jong-Fast, editor-at-large at The Daily Beast, joined Cheddar News to discuss the ongoing congressional investigation. "It is kind of crazy that every time Trump speaks, he kind of confesses a little more of what he was up to, but you really have to have proof," said Jong-Fast.
Natalie Fertig, federal cannabis policy reporter at Politico Pro, joins Cheddar News to discuss a new YouGov poll that looks at how Americans feel about marijuana and politics.
