The recent kerfuffle over the comedian at the White House Correspondents Dinner is small potatoes compared to the larger issue. Should the press and the people they cover socialize? And really, I think the answer is no. It is far too easy for a powerful person to ask a “friend” who is a reporter not to investigate something — as a favor. Often, the reporter is promised “access” in return. Who loses? We, the citizens, lose.
It is a slippery slope and it starts with putting people in social settings which encourage the kind of chumminess we don’t want in a democracy. Apparently, many of the journalists from The New York Times stopped going to these dinners 10 years ago. The White House Correspondents Dinners are a farce and give the impression of the press being in bed with the people they are supposed to cover. Freedom of the press in a healthy democracy means reporting on those in power unimpeded by thoughts of “friendship” or “favors.”
Bridget Smith,
Juneau