The correspondent’s dinner: – Shame on you

NEW YORK (Dagbladet): The correspondent’s dinner is the annual session where the president gives a speech where he jokes with the media and a comedian is hired to make fun of the president, other politicians and the media. This year it is comedian Colin Jost from “Saturday Night Live”, who has been given the honorable assignment.

This year is also an election year in the USA. This means that the event may have a little extra significance. And while Biden has recently been campaigning, his Republican opponent, Donald Trump, is sitting in court in New York accused of trying to cover up the payment of hush money to a porn actor.

Shouted

When the guests arrived at the glamorous event at the Washington Hilton, they were met by hundreds of protesters, who expressed their displeasure both with how Biden is handling Israel’s war on Gaza, and with how the American media is covering the conflict.

– Shame on you! shouted the protesters to the nearly 3,000 guests who pushed past wearing tuxedos or gala dresses, AP reports.

Some of the protesters also laid down on the road to stop traffic.

The event will also honor journalists who have been imprisoned or killed in several conflicts around the world. This includes Wall Street Journal journalist Evan Gershkovich, who has been imprisoned in Russia since March 2023.

Wanted a boycott

In Gaza, almost 100 journalists have been killed since October last year.

– Since the Israel-Gaza war began, journalists have paid the ultimate price – with their lives – to defend our right to the truth. Every time a journalist dies or is injured, we lose a fragment of that truth, says program director Carlos Martínez de la Serna of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) in a statement, according to AP.

Israel defends its actions in Gaza, claiming that it only targets Hamas.

Two dozen journalists in Gaza have also called for their colleagues in DC to boycott the dinner entirely.