NEW YORK (AP) — More than 500 retired and former journalists, along with eight organizations dedicated to press freedom, are pressing the White House Correspondents’ Association to take a firm public stand against the Trump administration’s ongoing attacks on the media — and to do so directly in front of the president at a rescheduled dinner set for this Friday.
The original dinner was abruptly ended in April after a gunman, whom prosecutors allege was attempting to assassinate the president, opened fire at the Washington Hilton. The replacement event will be a much smaller gathering held at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in the nation’s capital — a building previously known as the Trump International Hotel — with heightened security measures in place.
The new letter builds on a similar one circulated ahead of the April dinner, stating that since that time, “the administration’s attacks on journalists and press freedom have become even more egregious.”
The letter was organized by former ABC News correspondent Lisa Stark and producer Ian Cameron. Among its key concerns are recent subpoenas issued by the Justice Department targeting New York Times journalists who covered security questions surrounding a Qatari-gifted Air Force One aircraft intended for the president. The letter notes that the subpoenas have extended beyond the reporters themselves to include the mother of one journalist and the spouses of two others.
Also highlighted in the letter are what it describes as threats by the president to pull broadcast licenses from stations “who refuse to acquiesce to his demands.”
“Our message to the White House Correspondents’ Association is now more urgent: forcefully stand up for freedom of the press in front of the President, publicly defend the journalists he attacks, and vow to resist his administration’s concerted effort to undermine the First Amendment,” the letter states.
The letter references remarks by association president Weijia Jiang, who has described the dinner’s purpose as being “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 the man who relentlessly attacks it,” the letter reads. “We urge the WHCA to condemn the administration’s actions from the podium and pledge to fight all attempts by his administration to undermine this core pillar of a functioning democracy.”
The eight organizations that signed on include 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 for Women in Journalism, the Radio Television Digital News Association, and the Media and Democracy Project. Approximately 520 individual journalists — most of whom also signed the April letter — added their names as well.
President Trump has confirmed he intends to attend Friday’s dinner, describing the decision to proceed with the event as “a sign of Strength and Fortitude.” On his Truth Social platform, he wrote, “This announcement is a very good thing in that we cannot allow Lunatics to change our way of life, or even its scheduling.”
The president also left open whether he would deliver the speech he had originally prepared, which was widely expected to be critical of the press. “I don’t know whether or not I will give the same rather nasty statements, at least as it concerns certain people, but we will soon find out,” he wrote, adding: “In any event, it will be a ‘HOT’ ticket!”
