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Problem with that is that their listeners, viewers and readers do not want to be entertained. They want to be truthfully informed.

Tonight’s Correspondents’ Dinner One With Neither Guest of Honor Nor Audience

By Judi McLeod ——--April 29, 2017

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With the bulk of the mainstream media having long ago thrown totally in with the progressive left, should anybody have to guess who won’t be coming to tonight’s annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner? President Donald Trump stuck to his boycott of the event, and it took less than a nanosecond for a highly offended media to come across like the aggrieved party. Harder than ever to call attention to the sorrowful state of the grievously aggrieved because most everybody’s ‘aggrieved’ in a day when The Protest is the leading form of communication.
So jumping in to claim victim status for “the soft-spoken” head of the White House Correspondents’ Association as the steward of their annual dinner, is a comedy: “Saturday dinner culminates a challenging year for Jeff Mason, the soft-spoken head of the White House Correspondents’ Association.” (Politico Magazine, April 29, 2017) Only the media would continue with a shindig for which the guest of honor long ago sent his RSVP decline. It was the equivalent of telling them, ‘If I want you, I’ll call you’. It’s only once a year when mainstream media bigwigs get to sport their gowns and tuxedos to hobnob with members of the do-littlers in Congress and publicity celebrities—and NO ONE’s going to stop them. They belong within camera view with the dignitaries and VIPs. Chattering classes wait breathlessly to watch them getting their awards, as their highlight of the year, or so the media tends to think. Besides, they’ve promised oodles of selfies for family and friends. It’s their party and they’ll aggrieve if they want to.
Why did that blankety-blank Donald Trump choose to meet with loudly cheering supporters at a rally in Pennsylvania on THEIR Biggest Night of the Year? It just isn’t fair, Ollie. Shrinking violets Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton must have been right about Trump, and now—BOOHOO, they’re gone. “Trump, who is the first president to boycott the dinner since Jimmy Carter, will likely make hay over the contrast, celebrating his 100th day in office and declaring victory in his self-declared battle against a media he’s called a “danger to the country.” (Politico, April 29, 2017) How dare the 100th day in office of a new president take preference to the annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner?
“On the other side of this battle of images on Saturday night will be Jeff Mason, the soft-spoken wire service reporter who heads the correspondents’ association and thus oversees the dinner. (Politico) “Normally, this would be a night of triumph for the association’s president – a time to don a tuxedo and sit beside the most powerful man in the world as the president and the people who cover him exchange gentle barbs and affirm, in toasts, their commitment to the country and the principles of the First Amendment.”
Their “commitment to the country and the principles of the First Amendment”? So help me, you can’t make these things up. Back to Politico media whinging:
“But that’s not what Mason is facing. “The 40-year-old Mason, who is known for his quiet diligence and straight-down-the-middle reporting as White House correspondent for Reuters, is hardly the portrait of the self-indulgent media elite that Trump seeks to lampoon. He’s preternaturally calm and soft-spoken. Even as he’s had to contend with crisis after confrontation in the White House briefing room, he’s kept such a low profile that some free-speech advocates have singled him out for criticism.”

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Poor, poor “preternaturally calm and soft-spoken” Mason being left behind like a child the school bus is leaving without. Mason could be the only “preternaturally calm and soft-spoken” member of the howling pack of hyenas known as today’s smear-seeking media.
“…His stewardship of the dinner will face inevitable scrutiny, from his decision to invite the Watergate duo of Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward to present the association’s awards to his choice of Muslim-American comic Hasan Minhaj as the evening’s entertainment. (Politico) “Bash Trump too directly and play into his own narrative of war; fail to stand up for journalistic prerogatives and look like a feckless wimp.” "I didn’t anticipate that it would be the level of advocacy we’ve had to employ, at least three years ago when I was elected,” Mason acknowledged in his typically understated manner.”
Decisions, decisions, decisions. For tonight’s dinner, the chum will be laid out in the water, the sharks will be in a frenzy—but the counted upon sucker bait will be missing.
“Since even before Election Day, Mason has taken flak not only from the reporters, correspondents, producers and media executives looking to him as their advocate in the face of one of the most press-hostile presidents in history; but he’s also fielded attacks from the White House itself — such as frustrations over the lack of “decorum” among the White House correspondents. Trump’s team suggested moving the daily White House briefing from the White House to a separate room, potentially in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building across the way. They also expressed reservations about a protective pool, refusing to allow reporters to follow the president around until he was formally inaugurated. In the early days of the administration, the White House was notoriously slow in sending out transcripts and texts of executive orders, leaving reporters to simply transcribe photos of the orders as Trump held them up to display after signing. “On every one of those issues, it fell to Mason and the board to explain to the new administration why it was in everyone’s benefit to uphold some of the media traditions Trump’s administration seemed so ready to break. And so far, many of those traditions have survived – something Mason sees as a victory. “Mason, he and the White House say, has both advocated for the role of the media while selling the White House on why they should want reporters on the White House grounds and following the president around as part of a protective pool.”
Interesting indeed that the media would portray Trump as the the most “press-hostile president in history” when the media is now the most hostile to any president. Why would the White House want reporters on the White House grounds and “following the president around as part of a protective pool”? The media is far more destructive to than protective of President Trump. The party was over for the mainstream media on Election Night when the masses saw how off the mark they were by months of predicting that a Hillary Clinton victory was inevitable. They’ve hardly been eating crow ever since. The media not only likes to hobnob with Hollywood stars and celebrities, they’ve borrowed their mantra that touts: “Let us entertain you”. Problem with that is that their listeners, viewers and readers do not want to be entertained. They want to be truthfully informed.

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Judi McLeod—— -- Judi McLeod, Founder, Owner and Editor of Canada Free Press, is an award-winning journalist with more than 30 years’ experience in the print and online media. A former Toronto Sun columnist, she also worked for the Kingston Whig Standard. Her work has appeared throughout the ‘Net, including on Rush Limbaugh and Fox News.

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