US President Donald Trump on Saturday announced, through Twitter, that he will not be attending this year's White House correspondents' dinner scheduled on April 29 this year. He would reportedly become the first president to do so in 36 years. This move comes a day after the White House barred several media outlets and news organisations from attending a press briefing.
"I will not be attending the White House Correspondents' Association dinner this year. Please wish everyone well and have a great evening!" Trump tweeted on Saturday. Relations between the media and the White House are increasingly becoming hostile with Trump constantly describing negative news coverage as "fake".
The White House correspondents' dinner, which is hosted every year during spring, raises money for journalism scholarships and is attended by the US President, journalists, celebrities and other Washington insiders. Many news organisations have already refused to attend the dinner on April 29 as a sign of protest against Trump's constant attacks against the media.
Media organisations Vanity Fair and Bloomberg, which co-host an after party usually attended by famous personalities, have already decided not to do so this time while the New Yorker has also cancelled the pre-dinner party that it was supposed to host on April 28.
Meanwhile, several news organisations are yet to officially announce whether they would be attending the dinner with many rethinking their plans after news outlets like CNN, BBC, the New York Times and BuzzFeed among others were barred by the White House from attending an off-camera press briefing held by Press Secretary Sean Spiceron Friday, CNN reported. Trump had, hours before the briefing, attacked the media saying that "fake news" was the "enemy of the people."
The White House Correspondents' Association, in a statement, said that it has taken note of Trump's announcement and that the dinner would "continue to be a celebration of the First Amendment and the important role played by an independent news media in a healthy republic."
White House Correspondents Association President Jeff Mason told CNN that Trump's decision does not come as a surprise since he keeps making negative comments against the media.
"That of course is something that the correspondents' association and journalists reject. The media is an incredibly important part of a vibrant republic, and we celebrate that at that dinner... It's up to him to decide whether or not he wants to come. But the correspondents' association and the members who work in this room every day will continue to do our job and write the news and tell the truth about this administration, as we have done about every administration before," Mason said.
Trump has attended the correspondents' dinner in the past. He attended the dinner in 2011 where former President Barack Obama had joked that Trump would turn the White House into a casino if he became president. Obama also joked about rumours, which were started by Trump, that he wasn't born in the US.
Former President Ronald Reagan was the last one to have missed the dinner in 1981 because he was recovering after having sustained a gunshot wound from an assassination attempt. However, he did deliver remarks through a phone. Presidents of the US usually make a speech at the event.
According to NPR, the last president to have simply skipped the event was Richard Nixon in 1972 after he had warned the media that he would do so.
