Known for laughs, D.C. dinner to spotlight reporting risks

WASHINGTON (AP) — There’ll nonetheless be loads of laughs, however the White Home Correspondents’ Affiliation annual dinner on Saturday may also tackle the intense and solemn function of journalism in a democracy.

This 12 months’s dinner happens as Wall Avenue Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich has been imprisoned in Russia. He was detained in March and charged with spying, regardless of robust denials from his employer and the U.S. authorities. His household is among the many 2,600 folks attending the gala on the Washington Hilton.

Additionally attending is Debra Tice, the mom of Austin Tice, who has not been heard from since disappearing at a checkpoint in Syria in 2012. U.S. officers say they function underneath the belief that he’s alive and are working to attempt to deliver him house.

“They’re amongst lots of of journalists all over the world who’re wrongfully detained for the easy act of doing journalism — which isn’t a criminal offense,” mentioned Tamara Keith, a White Home correspondent for NPR and the affiliation’s president.

Brittney Griner, the WNBA star and Olympic gold medalist who was detained in Russia for practically 10 months final 12 months earlier than her launch in a prisoner swap, met with President Joe Biden as he arrived for the dinner. Griner is attending together with her spouse, Cherelle, as friends of CBS Information.

Actor and former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is predicted to open the dinner with a pre-taped video in regards to the significance of a free and unbiased press.

Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are seated on the stage together with comic Roy Wooden Jr., a correspondent for “The Every day Present,” because the featured entertainer.

Wooden gave a preview of the place his jokes have been headed, predicting that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis wasn’t more likely to finish his tradition clashes or cease his feud with Disney simply due to a number of jibes. The comic advised CNN to not anticipate DeSantis to say,

“‘You already know what, man, you’re proper. Go forward and put black historical past again in them books.’ … He’s preventing Mickey Mouse. You possibly can’t change that individual’s thoughts with a joke.”

The black-tie dinner attracts a wide selection of celebrities and media moguls to Washington, with events being held throughout the capital. Amongst these anticipated to attend the dinner are actuality TV star Lisa Vanderpump and singer John Legend and his spouse, Chrissy Teigen, the mannequin and tv character.

The Washington occasion returned final 12 months after being sidelined by the pandemic in 2020 and 2021. Biden was the primary president in six years to simply accept the invitation after Donald Trump shunned the occasion whereas in workplace.