Press teams demand WHCA ‘demonstrate opposition’ to Trump ‘from the podium’ at ‘nerd prom’ dinner

President Donald Trump has plans to attend the White House Correspondents Dinner on Saturday as an honoree, but the press corps may have plans of their own, that is if a group of journalism advocacy groups have anything to say about it. In a letter, the groups demand journalists at the annual “nerd prom” confront Trump.

Sam Donaldson, Lynn Sherr, Linda Douglass, the Society of Professional Journalists, the National Association of Black Journalists, the National Press Photographers Association, the Freedom of the Press Association, the Coalition for Women in Journalism, and the Radio Television Digital News Association told the press corps that they must “demonstrate opposition” to Trump when he appears at the dinner. They sent a letter to the board of directors to demand that those in attendance make their displeasure with the president known.

“The dinner has long served as a symbol of the vital and irreplaceable role of a free press in American democracy and a celebration of the First Amendment and the journalists who uphold it,” the signatories wrote. “President Trump’s systematic, sustained, and unprecedented attacks on the free press render his presence at such an event a profound contradiction of its purpose.”

Some journalists who are attending the dinner intend to wear pocket squares of pins with the text of the Bill of Rights’ First Amendment on it. But that’s not enough for the group, which writes that the press corps should “take stronger action by issuing—from the podium—a forceful defense of freedom of the press and condemnation of those who threaten than freedom, followed by a standing toast to the First Amendment and a pledge to continue upholding such a critical cornerstone of our democracy.”

“Speak forcefully,” it read, “in front of the man who seeks to undermine our country’s long tradition of an independent, strong, and free press. We also urge the WHCA to reaffirm, without equivocation, that freedom of the press is not a partisan issue and that the Association will not normalize this behavior but instead fight back against any officeholder who has waged systematic war against the journalists whose work the dinner celebrates.”

It’s unlikely that Trump would take kindly to that. This is the first invitation offered by the WHCA to Trump as president and the first time he’s accepted. Trump skipped the dinner in 2025 and also was a no-show for all four years of his first term.

During that era, the White House Correspondents Association hosted comedians who blasted Trump and members of his administration, forcing the group to issue something of a mea culpa. Of Michelle Wolf, who roasted the president and his team, they said her performance “was not in the spirit” of their mission.

That mission is essential to “promote excellence in journalism and journalism education.” They said, “We share the belief, held by our country’s Founders and enshrined in the First Amendment, that an independent news media is vital to the health of the republic. Each day, we work to ensure the journalists who cover the White House can seek answers from our nation’s highest office on behalf of the American people.” The WHCA is the “go-between” between member journalists and the White House.

The anti-Trump group of journalists claimed in their letter that Trump has been undermining press freedoms. They cite the removal of the AP from special events at the White House after that outlet refused to use the new name for the Gulf of America, formerly the Gulf of Mexico. The AP was later reinstated after the outlet brought suit.

They also cited the Pentagon’s remaking of the press corps for that agency, during which the newly named Department of War asked press outlets to sign a pledge saying that they would not leak information from the Pentagon to the public. The New York Times brought suit in that case and a judge was favorable to their cause.

Trump has repeatedly referred to the press as “fake news” and as won the White House in 2016, many already left-leaning outlets began to take the approach that they must “resist Trump,” just as the activists were doing. Outlets ran manufactured claims against Trump that were then used for his impeachment, though they were later debunked. Other outlets issued daily fact-checks of the president which they suspended when Biden took office.