Last Rites for the White House Media Dinner
Plus: A story about Pope Francis, the media, and leadership values.
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On tap today:
Mulling the WHCA Dinner
A great Pope Francis story
The night President Obama roasted Donald Trump
While an economically and presidentially cowed White House press corps gathers tonight in a performative celebration of the First Amendment,
will be holding a new media party.Counter programming the White House Correspondents Association dinner is a sign of the times, another step in the pivot from 20th century independent journalism funded by rich families and corporations to 21st century independent journalism funded by you, the subscribers to writers like me.
"Many of the publishers who are thriving on Substack today cut their teeth in legacy media, and they are carrying forward those values and journalistic standards into this new space," writes Substack co-founder
. "Others come from outside that system, bringing fresh perspectives and insight to the political discourse, challenging authority and speaking truth to power.”He continues: “It is a sometimes cantankerous lot—argumentative and skeptical; prickly and proud. They’ll probably have fun in one another’s company on Saturday night and then be at each other’s throats the next day. And that’s as it should be."
And as it used to be.
You know from my writings on the Lemmingization of society that I'm no fan of one key result of democratized communications: A global populace self-confined to their intellectual bubbles, free of opinions or facts that counter their biases.
But I don't mourn the death of The Gatekeepers, mostly white, middle-aged men whose monopoly on communications amplified their biases. I know the limitations of the Old Guard; for the first half of my career, I was a gatekeeper from the front row of the White House briefing room. I attended the White House Correspondents Association dinner multiple times, elbow-brushing celebrities, smooth-talking sources, and accepting career-boosting awards for my reporting.
But the WHCA dinner, like the WHCA itself, is an artifact of an imperfect era. By seizing power over who covers the White House from up close, President Trump has driven the last nail in the WHCA's coffin. There will be no wakes, only Orwellian spoon feedings until or unless the institution of Journalism learns how to stand up against a modern president.
Humanity has never been as radically connected and empowered to communicate as we are today. We’re using this unprecedented access to information and each other not to challenge our assumptions or expand our networks of understanding, but to confirm our biases and narrow our intellectual apertures. To protect and grow democracies, we must know more than just how to discern truth from lies. We must start giving a shit about the difference.
That journey, for better and worse, begins on independent journalism platforms like Substack — where, to be honest, we're far too self-sorted — and perhaps at the party in Washington tonight that is not the White House Correspondents Association Dinner.
The late-Pope Francis once credited a harsh exchange with an Associated Press reporter for belatedly awakening him to the depth of the Catholic Church's sex abuse scandal.
In a remarkable first-person essay, Nicole Winfield recounts the 2018 conversation aboard the papal plane.
Francis insisted no victims had come forward to accuse Bishop Juan Barros of protecting the abuser priest, Fernando Karadima. I knew otherwise, and told Francis as much in a tone of voice that still shocks me today.
"It’s the victims who are saying this,” I told him.
“I haven’t heard from any victim of Barros,” Francis responded.
“There are! There are!” I insisted. The pope interrupted, but I cut him off, my voice rising. “No! There are victims of Karadima who say that Barros was there!”
“But they didn’t come forward,” Francis replied. “They didn’t give evidence for a judgment. You, with good intentions, tell me that there are victims, but I haven’t seen them because they didn’t present themselves.”
By the genteel standards of Vatican protocol, it was a stunningly sharp exchange. Francis could have dug in or retaliated against me and other journalists who challenged him so publicly."
But he didn’t. His response — commissioning an investigation and, once finished, apologizing to the victims for discrediting them — underscored what friends and foes alike saw as one of Francis’ most remarkable attributes: a willingness to admit mistakes and change course.
In 2023, Francis acknowledged that The AP reporter had moved him with her tough airborne interview.
"I couldn’t believe it. You were the one on the plane who told me, ‘No, that’s not the way it is, Father,’” Francis told Winfield.
“That’s when the bomb went off, when I saw the corruption of many bishops in this,” he said, making a gesture indicating his head had exploded.
Francis led with grace, humility, and accountability. We could use some of that in American politics.
Ron, your article is a sharp and thoughtful take on the shifting landscape of journalism. I especially appreciate how you acknowledge the imperfections of the "old guard" while highlighting the promise and pitfalls of new platforms like Substack. Your insider perspective adds depth, and your call for intellectual openness is spot-on. Well done!
What an absolute delight Nicole Winfield's lookback is! Thanks for the weekend-starting gift of reading about her "nothing-to-lose chutzpah" that seems to have nudged rescheduling of a papal trip.
"La prima della classe," indeed. And she has spent 33 years at the wire, including two dozen at the Vatican -- another legend with anecdotes as vivid as yours.