Take your seats. So its an honor to meet you. From washington d. C. Its the white house chorus. Its dinner with special appearances by Kelly Odonnell. Eugene karen travers, the Property Brothers, the president of the United States. And tonight is headliner roy wood jr. But first from los angeles, a very special message from arnold schwarzenegger. Hello, everybody its fantastic to speak to all of you here for the White House Correspondents. Wow, what an event. Look at this. No, i didnt. Here to roast anybody or do make jokes or anything like that. I just simply wanted to say thank you. Thank you. Thank you to of you got to few today because our country would not be the shining beacon of freedom that welcome people like me without the free press. Lets be honest about that and. Tonights event, of course, sends a powerful message. You dont see politicians schmoozing and drinking with the press in beijing or in moscow and places like that . No, not at all. Here we are having a good time. Now, i wouldnt the answer to that, you know, without the press. Thats a fact. I mean every reporter, every photographer every editor who has brought me or my message to the people has made my life possible. And successful. So though youve asked that annoyed the hell out of i remind myself always that you actually doing the peoples work. Youre the ally of the people. So never ever shining a light on the truth and informing the public. Im very proud of all you and not just me. Its also lulu and whiskey and the my twin brother, danny. We are all proud of you for that cracker. Yeah. I come over here. Were going to get bit by a horse. Okay. Very neat. Okay, thats fingers. Good girl. Good girl. Thank you very much. Now, speaking of questions, it annoy the hell out of me. I would like to introduce you to someone. Covered me during my time as governor of the great state of california, whos gone on to bigger and better things. Please welcome. White House Correspondents Association president tamara keith. I have the people has a nice ring to it. Thank you, governor. Welcome to the White House Correspondent association dinner. For the First Time Since 2016, we have both the president and Vice President here, as well as their spouses. Their presence is a statement, an endorsement of the importance of a free and indepth pendent press, even if they dont always like the questions ask or the way we ask them. Now acknowledging this is an entire evening dedicated to celebrating journalism and the white house corps. I am also here to tell you that it isnt about us or the celebrities who are here though. Thank you for your support. Thank you very much for your support. As the governator said, as weird as this event is with politicians and glamorous, famous people and totally unglamorous journalists all gathered in the same room, there is something american about. The fact that we can all be here together and. Then these reporters can go out on monday and do stories about these very same politicians that pulled no punches when were asking questions in the oval office under the wing of air force one or in the Briefing Room, we are stand ins for american people. Our responsibility to the country is woven into the fabric of the nation enshrined in the First Amendment of the constitution. And we take that responsibility seriously, but not seriously, that we cant have a little fun tonight and laugh at a few jokes, some at our own expense. So welcome to nations biggest celebration of, the First Amendment and the work of bringing an inquisitive spotlight to those in power. Up first to present the whca awards, please welcome abc news White House Correspondent karen travers. Good evening. I am honored to present this years whca awards to several incredible journalists, some of whom are also wonderful colleagues of mine on the white house. Beat journalist who bring the years of wisdom and sharp insights and tenacious reporting every day to their beats. The elder Beckman Award for overall excellence in white house coverage is named for a former association president. The late Chicago Tribune correspondent, aldo beckman. This year, the award goes to matt viser of the washington, the. The judges said matt viser stood out among his competitors work that went beyond the humdrum of the managed events of the presidency in the white house. Viser captured spirit of joe biden particular with stories about the president s brother, how his catholic faith influenced his Strategic Vision of the office. The whca is pleased give the outdoor Beckman Award to matt. The whca gives out two awards for reporting under deadline pressure, one for print, another for broadcast. This years print winner is jeff mason of reuters. The judges said based on a tip the judges said based a tip and working his sources. Jeff got the news of a White House Solar Initiative on a sunday night hours before the administration announced it on monday morning. The speed of jeffs reporting an impact on the markets and led to other news outlets citing piece before the official white house announcement the following day. Please welcome the winner of the deadline award for print from reuters, jeff mason. And now the broadcast award. This years winner is, Phil Mattingly of cnn. The judges said Phil Mattingly of cnn was ahead of the competition and the official white house announcement in breaking the news and the details, ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky planned trip to the white house in december 2022. Phil led cnns coverage of zelenskys visit, including asking both zelensky and president questions at their joint press conference that elicited deeply personal, newsworthy responses. Phils 16 live shots in a 24 hour period combined context and depth. Take a look. Right now, planning is underway for. President zelenskiy to visit the white house to meet with President Biden face to face. A visit that will coincide with the announcement of a new Security Assistance package that will include something zelensky has long asked for Patriot Missile systems that white house officials, the department of defense have been weighing over the course of the last several weeks and have been moving towards signing off on. We are pleased to honor the deadline reporting of cnn. Still mattingly. The award excellence in president ial news by visual journalists this goes to my dear friend, everybodys dear friend doug of the New York Times. Of the winning photo, the said doug mills expertly an unscripted moment with President Joe Biden as he emerged the shadows to celebrate the passage the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 at an event on the south. The image is striking for its composition symmetry, use of light. The president s expression and posture intensified, the atmosphere with the sense of gravity as do the gazing marine honor guards who frame him. Lets congratulate New York Times photographer doug mills. The whca partners with the university of florida to present the collier prize for State Government accountability, which is designed to encourage coverage of State Government focusing on investigative and political reporting for their series the spectacular failures by the state bar of california to regulate and the integrity of lawyers in the state. This year, the award goes to harriet ryan and Matt Hamilton of the los angeles times. The university. The University Said the series showed the bars failure to prevent a Trial Attorney from using client settlement to buy his wife 750,000. Diamond earrings and his mistress, a sitting Appellate Court justice, a 300,000 beach front condo. It also showed disbarment rates for black male lawyers are nearly four, nearly four times more than those of their white. Their reporting resulted in reforms, government investigations, transparency and, new legislation. Please join me in congratulating harriet ryan and Matt Hamilton of the los angeles times. For. The katharine award for courage and accountability in honor of the legendary post publisher goes this year to josh gerstein, alex ward of politico. The judges said politicos efforts to report verify and publish the drafts Court Opinion reversing rights and the organizations follow up work exploring the consequences. The decision were globally historic and groundbreaking. It flipped the longstanding belief here in washington, d. C. , that nothing leaks from the supreme. Here was journalism about a ruling has had a profound and Immediate Impact on tens of millions of lives. Take a look. Breaking news of washington breaking new report from, politico. They have obtained a draft opinion the Supreme Court could be poised to down roe v wade. This is a very unusual, if not completely historically unprecedented leak, utterly unprecedented leak. Really a stunning development, one thats likely to shape the countrys social based on our reporting information that both myself and my coauthor alex ward obtained. It does it has the backing of five conservative justices. And now raisequestions about the future of roe versus wade and what this means abortion rights in our country. Please welcome the winners of Katharine Graham award from politico. Josh gerstein and alex ward. Lets hear it one more time for all of this years winners. Congratulations, everyone. Please welcome to the microphone. Politico, house correspondent and playbook coauthor eugene daniels. What a beautiful evening, everyone. Obviously, are some of us who come to this dinner very excited to get selfies with celebrities. John legend, chrissy teigen. Hello. You too. Ill come back later. These are vanderpump and gene sperling. But thats not what this is about. What you are really doing here in this ballroom is funding scholarships for the next generation of the Fourth Estate over. The last ten. Over the last ten years, the whca has given out nearly 1. 1 million in scholarships and leveraged 1 million, an additional aid to aspiring journalists like Julia Benbrook and 2021, while student at northwestern university, she won our deborah orrin scholarship. Tonight she is here as a washington correspondent for spectrum news. Yesterday, we had 28 of this years scholarship meeting. White house correspondents jane from cbs, zoltan kanno, yangs from the New York Times, and Sabrina Siddiqui of the wall street journal. They heard from minnesota senator amy klobuchar, a strong supporter of press freedom, and the daughter, a journalist. And they got an on the record briefing from corys on, pierre. Sitting in the seats, we hope these students will someday occupy. The gonzalez that is from san antonio, texas. They seem mcclintock from tampa, florida, where true, but are from aurora, ohio. Grant from wyckoff, new jersey, became the roberts from marietta, georgia. Any gentleman from saint louis, missouri, either. Thompson from chicago, illinois, drew hitoshi from diamond bar, california, lauren erwin from denver, colorado. Madeleine hardin from, cleveland, ohio. Jordan taylor from toledo, ohio. Ryan jackson, massillon, ohio. Anna olson from boone, iowa. Lily boudreaux from york city. Rene romo from sierra vista arizona. Abigail turner from palo hio. Alisha taylor from kansas city. Alexis weiss from pleasanton california. Caroline family from. Kansas city, kansas. Kristi noem Eric Rossborough from arlington, texas. Apply as from Upper West Side manhattan. Brianna alvarado from sanford, florida. Burns from los angeles, abby and ramsey. Knoxville, tennessee. You havent heard anything online. Rasheeda, anderson, abdullah, detroit, michigan. Eleanor mccreary from wentzville, missouri. Ragan mertz, brooklyn, missouri. To some from los angeles, california chapman university. American university, Columbia School of journalism, the university of missouri, George Washington university. University v Hampton University university. Iowa state university. The university. The university. The university of maryland. University of tennessee. Knoxville, arizona university. Uc berkeleys graduate of journalism. Me and other members of the White House Press corps spent most of yesterday with them. Let me tell you, these scholars are much impressive than any of us were that age, these amazing young journalists are here with us tonight. If they to talk to you, give them a job. Now, what our students stand up and lets give them all of us. And watch out, because these are going to be hitting you up for and jobs at all. The after parties last year at this dinner, we announced the creation of a new for lifetime career achievement as a White House Correspondent. The Dunnigan Payne prize. It named in honor of two trailblazing women, Alice Dunnigan and ethel payne, the first two africanamerican women serve in the White House Press corps. They were also the first recipients pastor lee, of the prize that carries their tonight, whca Vice President. And now in abc news senior white house Kelly Odonnell will present the prize to two journalists she worked with closely and considered great friends. Good evening. Tonight, we celebrate tonight we celebrate the extraordinary careers two journalists who are deeply missed. Gwen ifill of, pbs newshour and washington week, who passed away in 2016 at and bill plant of cbs news, who left last year the 2023 Dunnigan Payne prize honors gwen and bill. Now their wellknown accomplishments. Let me share a couple of memories that tell us a bit about who they were when and i were colleagues at nbc news back in the nineties. I did not her well at that time as i was visiting dc covering, my very first president ial race, i casually shared with that. I really didnt why a campaign made certain behind the scenes moves as gwen was heading to her car, she stopped, turned around and offered up her experienced and smart take on what was really going. Now that helped me in the moment. But she gave me something much bigger. She showed me that real stop turn around and help out. Her example made me want to be that kind of colleague. Thank you. When and bill more than 50 years at cbs news, was a master of the shouted question at the white, one of the president s favorites. Im sure many of us also bills gift for making president ial trips real life memories by finding to experience the flavor of the places we visited around the world. He would select a perfect restaurant the right bottle of wine and bring together a group us to hear his stories and share some of our own. A rooftop in vietnam hearing about his war coverage was what a memory he encouraged us to savor the journey of this job. Thank bill. When and bill were gracious and generous. John dickerson, lets cbs news shows us how their tremendous careers leave a legacy of excellence, how you do. My name is bill plante and id like show you some of my work. For 52 years at cbs news, bill plante showed us his work covering the civil rights struggle. Is this the the grand climax, the vietnam war . Bill plante news anwar and reagan, clinton and obama for president. Do you believe osama ladens denial that he had anything to with this . Bills approach was ask direct questions and keep your opinion out of it. Did you make a mistake in sending arms to tehran. No. And im taking any more questions. Is encased to the best of accountability at journalism from his front row seat to history, even when getting to that seat required a climb, it was very impressive. Or when he wasnt in it. Theyll point no. Bills here. Thats shocking. The bill was beloved around. The halls of cbs news collaborative, generous in spirit and with spirits. On the 50th anniversary of bloody sunday. Mr. President , why is there such a disparity in the way blacks and whites see Race Relations . Bill conducted his final president ial interview steps from the Edmund Pettus bridge, a where he witnessed the march montgomery a half a century earlier, at a time when a black president seemed impossible. A white newsman. Bill, who covered the marches, then and who is with us here today, quipped that the growing number of white people lowered quality of the singing. Gwen feel a preachers daughter came of age in the civil rights era. Her journalism career began a boston newspaper. I came work as an intern and found racial slur directed at the at my new at my workspace and instead of getting in salted suing, i just hung in there. And were lucky she did. Her talent took her to the baltimore evening sun, washington post, and New York Times. What . Where she covered the clinton white. How do you addr