Looks like all of the other networks attended in spite of the White House excluding CNN -- and OAN joined too. Three issues here which build on each other.
1. It is inherently distasteful, IMO, for elite journalists to attend cozy off-the-record lunches with the president to be spun them on his speech, regardless of who the president is. If it's important enough for WH to do it, it should be important enough to put on record.
2. It is particularly bad practice to do so when the president says journalists are enemies of the people who make up sources in order to damage his administration, and when his administration punishes outlets that produce critical reporting (see: State Dept and NPR last week.)
3. And it's even worse when the lunch is itself a vehicle to punish outlets the president doesn't like and reward ones which produce pure propaganda like OAN.
A bare minimum level of solidarity in those circumstances seems appropriate. But it didn't happen here.
A bare minimum level of solidarity in those circumstances seems appropriate. But it didn't happen here.
One good thing about this administration has been the downsizing of the White House Correspondents Dinner. Killing this lunch could have been a second.
