Attempting to Repair Media Distrust, the White House Correspondents’ Dinner Makes It Worse.

Stop telling us you'll do a good job and do a good job.

Axios reporter Alex Thompson gives an acceptance speech at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.

This year’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner was especially uninspiring. Trump skipped it, yet the White House Correspondents Association (WHCA) still cancelled comedian Amber Herd to avoid angering him. The typical fanfare of star-studded celebrities and the media-hosted soirées was nowhere to be found.¹ The lack of extravagance only highlighted the night’s unofficial theme, the decline of mainstream media. Even when the event acknowledged their decreasing relevance, the lack of self-awareness was cringeworthy. After winning the Aldo Beckman Award for Overall Excellence in White House Coverage, Axios’ Alex Thompson gave the following acceptance speech.

“One serious note. To my bones, I believe that reporting and the White House Correspondents Association are as necessary as ever. President Biden’s decline and its cover-up by the people around him are a reminder that every White House, regardless of party, is capable of deception. But being truth-tellers means also telling the truth about ourselves.

We—myself included—missed a lot of this story, and some people trust us less because of it. We bear some responsibility for our low faith in the media.

I say this because acknowledging errors builds trust, and being defensive about them further erodes it. We should have done better.

I believe our mission is vital in a world where people struggle to figure out what’s true, and people with power are not telling the truth. I also believe this association has been, is, and will continue to be critical to that mission.

Thank you to the (WHCA) leadership for your unflinching defense of the First Amendment, not just now but always. Your decades of daily battles on behalf of reporters are why this award is one of the great honors of my life.”

This speech is as pompous as it was wrong. Here’s a tip for the veteran reporter. If you’re waxing poetic about rebuilding trust with the American people, don’t do it thirty seconds after plugging your book. Before launching into the above diatribe, Thompson asked viewers to pre-order his forthcoming book, which covers (you guessed it) Biden’s cognitive decline.

The media should take responsibility for its role in protecting a senile president, and I don’t doubt the White House conspiracy to keep Biden in the race is a worthy subject matter. But if Thompson earnestly wanted to earn back America’s good faith, this is the worse way to do it. The Axios journalist won the award for his coverage of last years’ disastrous debate, though both he and his employer spent many months denying there was anything wrong with the geriatric president. It’s fine that was speech’s focus, but using your apology as a self-congratulatory sales pitch isn’t genuine. You’re not owning a mistake if you say, “I’m sorry I messed up. I learned what I did wrong, and the apology letter is now available for pre-order for just $39.95.” It’s no different than a televangelist promising salvation once your check is delivered.

I was shocked to hear Thompson say the media deserves “some” of the responsibility for its low trust rating. Reading between the lines, Thompson likely puts the blame on the public and politically demagoguery, specifically from Trump. Neither of these is correct. In the internet age, Americans were always going to turn away from The New York Times and The Washington Post in favor of video creators and independent writers such as yours truly. Long-form articles with bland prose just aren’t for everyone. However, the growth of independent media never meant the public would lose trust in traditional outlets. Had Thompson and his colleagues lived up to their espoused values and integrity, their credibility would still be intact, even if they weren’t every American’s preferred medium.