The White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA) is an organization of journalists who cover the White House and the President of the United States. The WHCA was founded on February 25, 1914 by journalists in response to an unfounded rumor that a United States congressional committee would select which journalists could attend press conferences of President Woodrow Wilson.^[4]

The WHCA operates independently of the White House. Among the more notable issues handled by the WHCA are the credentialing process, access to the President and physical conditions in the White House press briefing rooms.^[5][6] Its most high-profile activity is the annual White House Correspondents' Dinner, which is traditionally attended by the President and covered by the news media.

Not every member of the White House press corps is a member of the White House Correspondents' Association.

The current leadership team of the White House Correspondents' Association includes:^[5]

The WHCA is responsible for assigned seating in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room in the West Wing of the White House.

The WHCA's annual dinner, begun in 1921,^[12] has become a Washington, D.C. tradition and is traditionally attended by the president and vice president.^[4] Fifteen presidents have attended at least one WHCA dinner, beginning with Calvin Coolidge in 1924.^[4] The dinner is traditionally held on the evening of the last Saturday in April at the Washington Hilton.

Until 1962, the dinner was open only to men, even though WHCA's membership included women. At the urging of Helen Thomas, President John F. Kennedy refused to attend the dinner unless the ban on women was dropped.^[13]

Prior to World War II, the annual dinner featured singing between courses, a homemade movie, and an hour-long, post-dinner show with big-name performers.^[4] Since 1983, the featured speaker has usually been a comedian, with the dinner taking on the form of a 'roast' of the president and his administration.

The dinner also funds scholarships for gifted students in college journalism programs.^[14]

Many annual dinners have been cancelled or downsized due to deaths or political crises. The dinner was cancelled in 1930 due to the death of former president William Howard Taft; in 1942, following the United States' entry into World War II; and in 1951, over what President Harry S. Truman called the "uncertainty of the world situation".^[15] In 1981, Ronald Reagan did not attend because he was recuperating after the attempted assassination the previous month, but he did phone in and told a joke about the shooting.^[16]

President Donald Trump did not attend the dinners in 2017 and 2018,^[17] but indicated in a tweet that he might attend in 2019 since this dinner did not feature a comedian as the featured speaker.^[18] However, on April 5, 2019, he announced that he again would not attend, calling the dinner "so boring, and so negative," instead hosting a political rally that evening in Wisconsin.^[19][20] On April 22, Trump ordered a boycott of the dinner, with White House Cabinet Secretary Bill McGinley, who oversees the cabinet agencies for the president, assembling the agencies' chiefs of staff to issue a directive that members of the administration not attend.^[21][22] However, some members of the administration attended pre- and post- dinner parties.^[23]

The WHCD has been increasingly criticized as an example of the coziness between the White House press corps and the administration.^[24][25] The dinner has typically included a skit, either live or videotaped, by the sitting U.S. president in which he mocks himself, for the amusement of the press corps.^[24] The press corps, in turn, hobnobs with administration officials, even those who are unpopular and are not regularly cooperative with the press.^[24] Increasing scrutiny by bloggers has contributed to added public focus on this friendliness.^[24]

After the 2007 dinner, New York Times columnist Frank Rich implied that the Times would no longer participate in the dinners.^[26] Rich wrote that the dinner had become "a crystallization of the press's failures in the post-9/11 era" because it "illustrates how easily a propaganda-driven White House can enlist the Washington news media in its shows".^[26]

Other criticism has focused on the amount of money actually raised for scholarships, which has decreased over the past few years.^[14]

The dinners have drawn increasing public attention, and the guest list grows "more Hollywood".^[6] The attention given to the guest list and entertainers often overshadows the intended purpose of the dinner, which is to "acknowledge award-winners, present scholarships, and give the press and the president an evening of friendly appreciation".^[6] This has led to an atmosphere of coming to the event only to "see and be seen".^[6] This usually takes place at pre-dinner receptions and post-dinner parties hosted by various media organizations, which are often a bigger draw and can be more exclusive than the dinners themselves.^[27][28][29]

The public airings of the controversies around the dinner from the mid-2000s onward gradually focused concern about the nature of the event.^[30] While interest in the event from entertainers, journalists, and political figures was high during the Obama administration, by the period of the Trump administration, interest gradually slowed in attending, especially for Hollywood figures who did not want to be caught on-camera during a potential viral moment gone bad or to spend extended amounts of time with Trump administration officials.^[30] Business related to the weekend event slowed considerably, including at hotels, high-end restaurants, salons, caterers, and limo companies.^[30]

During the Trump administration, some media companies stopped hosting parties, while other of the roughly 25 events held during the three-day period gained more prominence as signs of social status.^[30]

By 2019, the dinner and associated parties had returned somewhat to their previous nature as networking and media functions, with packed houses of media industry employees and Washington political figures.^[23]

Awarded for outstanding examples of deadline reporting.

Awarded for journalistic excellence.

Awarded for excellence on a story of national or regional significance.