*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.”
Young people across the world are uniting, calling on policymakers to adress the climate crisis. 15-year-old Alexandria Villasenor, founder of Earth Uprising, talks launching the movement and an upcoming partnership with GAP Kids on a virtual rally, encouraging the youth to make their voices heard about issues they want fixed.
Israel and the United Arab Emirates say they are establishing full diplomatic relations in a U.S.-brokered deal that required Israel to halt its contentious plan to annex occupied West Bank land sought by the Palestinians.
President Donald Trump says he opposes additional funding for the U.S. Postal Service, acknowledging that his position would starve the agency of money Democrats say it needs to process an anticipated surge in mail-in ballots during the coronavirus pandemic.
Paige Hill, surrogate director of communications for the Biden campaign, says the vice presidential shortlist includes a number of highly qualified women.
Joe Biden introduced his newly chosen running mate Kamala Harris on Wednesday, with the former vice president and California senator appearing for the first time together as the Democratic presidential ticket.
Joe Biden named California Sen. Kamala Harris as his running mate on Tuesday.
New Zealand's prime minister says authorities have found four cases of the coronavirus in one Auckland household from an unknown source, the first cases of local transmission in the country in 102 days.
Lebanon’s Prime Minister Hassan Diab says he is stepping down in the wake of the catastrophic explosion in Beirut last week that triggered public fury and mass protests.
U.S. employers advertised more jobs in June compared with May, but overall hiring fell, painting a mixed picture of the job market.
Chicago’s police commissioner says more than 100 people were arrested following a night of looting and unrest that left 13 officers injured and caused damage in the city’s upscale Magnificent Mile shopping district and other parts of the city.
