Expect more presidential ribbing this year, and more hooting. This spring, the coronavirus was shoved to the side along with the world’s other roiling problems, and the plan to party was back in full force. Reporters ran all over Washington like it was a high-powered Sadie Hawkins dance, asking administration officials to sit at tables with them in the 2,600-seat ballroom of the Washington Hilton. (New York Times journalists do not attend the dinner.)
The tickets sell for $375, Tamara Keith, the NPR reporter and president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, said in an interview. The nonprofit takes in some $975,000 from tickets alone, and a large chunk of the revenue goes to scholarships. Ms. Keith said that over the past decade the organization has raised some $1.1 million for scholarships. She said she wrote most of the speech she will deliver this year aboard Air Force One on the president’s trip from Ireland.
At the dinner, journalists receive awards for their work to explain the president and his decision-making to the world, on deadline. This year, Gwen Ifill of the PBS NewsHour and Washington Week and Bill Plante of CBS News will receive posthumous awards to recognize their career achievements.
In his remarks, Mr. Biden is expected to bring up the case of Evan Gershkovich, a reporter for The Wall Street Journal who was formally charged with espionage by the Russian government after his detention in March. Mr. Biden’s administration has vehemently denied those charges.
“It’s always a complicated night,” Ms. Keith said. “There’s comedy, there’s absolutely tragedy with the journalists who are wrongfully detained around the world who we will be holding up at our dinner. And yeah, there has always been, no matter the president, no matter the press corps, a somewhat uncomfortable relationship between the president and the press who covers them. As well there should be.”
According to a roundup by Deadline, guests this year include several cabinet officials, including Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken and Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo. The singer John Legend and Ms. Teigen, a model and lifestyle mogul, are among the celebrities who will attend. Lisa Vanderpump and Ariana Madix, who star in the Bravo reality television series “Vanderpump Rules” are also attending.
Ms. Keith said reporters will also be treated to a “really great message” from Arnold Schwarzenegger, the former governor of California, who will call the news media “an ally of the people.”
And then there are the parties, so many in number that news organizations like Politico and Axios — which are hosting events this year — have accumulated how-to guides for optimizing one’s attendance. The free drinks are plentiful, and the hangovers will be lingering until Sunday morning, when there will be more parties. After that, there are only 364 days or so until the next dinner.
