There’s no money for journalism anymore:
National Journal White House correspondent George Condon told me that, “If I could wave a wand, I’d eliminate the red carpet. I find the red carpet embarrassing.”
Whiston says the red carpet is a big pain for her as well.
“The hardest part of the dinner is handling the red carpet,” said Whiston. “It gets larger and larger. … There were 112 people covering the red carpet this year. That’s a lot of people.”
Yes. Yes it is, at a time when we talk so easily about how hard it is to find the resources to do real journalistic work, it is a lot of people. Who are covering people. Who are supposed to be covering people. Jesus tits, put the drink down and go do a job. You ought to be ashamed of yourself.
One hundred and 12 people. As we lament the decline of pure storytelling and blither about the Internet, there are 112 people who want to watch other reporters walk into a party, and call it a job. That’s where the money’s going while we fight about whether millennials are too attached to their iPhones to read anymore.
A.
Stephen Colbert mocked them and told them. In an ideal world, that dinner would have been the last.
I don’t know why the President participates in the WH Correspondents’ Dinner. If I were POTUS, I’d say, “Nah, I’ve got more important things to do,” and let the chips fall where they may. No POTUS, no publicity. The dinner would die the quiet death it deserves.
How bad could the blowback be if the POTUS took a pass on the dinner? If the press gets their undies in a bunch, take the case directly to the American people. I think average Joes of all political stripes think the dinner at best is a silly waste of time, and many of us are concerned that it blurs the line between covering the story and being part of the story.
The dinner, and POTUS’ participation in it, just reinforces the notion that the late George Carlin summarized so succinctly: “It’s a big club, and you ain’t in it.”