For Journalists, Annual Dinner Serves Up Catharsis and Resolve -
By MICHAEL M. GRYNBAUMAPRIL 30, 2017
WASHINGTON — Toward the end of his comic opus on the press, politics
and President Trump, the “Daily Show” comedian Hasan Minhaj looked out at the hundreds of journalists gathered in a subterranean hotel ballroom here on Saturday night and declared, “This has been one of the strangest events I have ever done in my life.”
The lengthy laughter and applause that followed made clear that he was not the only one who thought that way.
“We’re actually here to encourage the journalists,” said Julie Locascio, who lives in the Washington area
and held a handwritten sign reading, “Journalists are not enemies of the people but friends of freedom.”
As reporters in formal wear walked by, she called out, “We need you in those trenches!”
“I’ve been coming to this dinner for many years,” he said at a pre-dinner cocktail reception hosted by CBS News.
Mr. Trump raised the tension of the evening with his Pennsylvania rally, an event designed to underscore the contrast between tuxedoed Washington journalists celebrating themselves
and the blue-collar supporters at his rally — “hard-working Americans,” as one senior administration official put it.
At one point, Mr. Mason recited the text of the amendment onstage, and an introductory video took pains to showcase clashes between previous presidents and the press, demonstrating
that the news media’s adversarial relationship with the presidency — which Mr. Mason called “healthy” — did not start with Mr. Trump.