NEW YORK (AP) — Hundreds of former or retired journalists and eight press freedom groups are asking the White House Correspondents’ Association to fight back against the Trump administration’s recent attacks on the news media. Dinner has been moved to this week — a dinner that President Donald Trump said he would attend.
First dinner was interrupted in April when a gunman who prosecutors said was trying to kill Trump opened fire at the Washington Hilton. The much smaller, rescheduled dinner will take place Friday with heightened security at the capital’s Waldorf Astoria, the former Trump International hotel.
The letter complements a similar one posted in April ahead of the first dinner. It notes that since then, the administration’s “attacks on journalists and press freedom have become even more egregious.”
The letter, prepared by former ABC News correspondent Lisa Stark and producer Ian Cameron, quotes, in part, recent subpoenas The Justice Department told New York Times reporters who reported safety concerns about the Air Force One plane donated by the Qatari president. Additional subpoenas from journalists’ phone records even named one reporter’s mother and two spouses.
They want the association to stand up “strong”
The letter also cites Trump’s threats to revoke the licenses of broadcasters “that refuse to comply with his demands.”
“Our message to the White House Correspondents’ Association is now more urgent: stand up fiercely for press freedom before the President, publicly defend the journalists he attacks, and vow to resist his administration’s concerted efforts to undermine the First Amendment,” the letter said.
It notes that association president Weijia Jiang defined the dinner’s purpose as “to celebrate the First Amendment and the hard daily work of the journalists who defend it.”
“We believe it is hypocritical to celebrate the First Amendment in front of a man who relentlessly attacks it,” the letter said. “We call on the WHCA to condemn the administration’s actions from the platform and pledge to fight all attempts by his administration to undermine this fundamental pillar of a functioning democracy.”
There are several signatories
The following groups signed the letter: the Society of Professional Journalists, the Committee to Protect Journalists, the National Association of Black Journalists, the National Press Photographers Association, the Freedom of the Press Foundation, the Coalition of Women in Journalism, the Radio-Television Digital News Association, and the Media and Democracy Project.
There are also about 520 individual signatories, mostly retired journalists. Almost all of them also signed the April letter.
Trump said he would attend the rescheduled dinner on Friday, calling the event’s plan “a sign of strength and resilience.”
“This announcement is very good news because we cannot allow crazy people to change our way of life or even our schedule,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
He added that he had not yet decided whether to give his originally planned speech, in which he was expected to attack the press. “I don’t know if I will make the same rather unpleasant statements, at least in relation to individuals, but we will soon find out,” he wrote. “Either way, it will be a HOT ticket!”