‘Times’ admits DC dinners aren’t really that fun
The New York Times has finally decided to end its participation in the annual DC journalist-politician lovefest dinners by groups like the White House Correspondents Association. The paper soft-launched the news in Sunday’s Frank Rich column.
Many, many media observers, including yours truly, have been calling for an end to these events for quite a while. They inevitably lead to embarassing (and sometimes sickening) moments like NBC bulldog reporter David Gregory being reduced to a backup dancer for a Karl Rove mock-rap. The upshot of the Times‘ move will be that all the other media outlets that still participate in the events will look more and more like clueless hacks. But don’t bet on these traditions fading out completely any time soon; the DC press corps is famously insular.
[...] The New York Observer has followed up on Frank Rich’s exclusive that the NY Times was reconsidering its busy social calendar, first mentioned by Hamilton Nolan. Executive editor Bill Keller, in an e-mail to The Observer, confirmed that the new policy change could extend far outside the beltway: Events that cater to City Hall and Statehouse reporters in New York—the Inner Circle dinner and Legislative Correspondents’ Dinner—are also on the hit list. [...]