NBC WH Correspondent Chuck Todd

Elections usher in more than a new White House resident. It’s a time when the networks tap their new White House correspondent. For NBC, the highly regarded political analyst and editor Chuck Todd now occupies the NBC seat in the White House Briefing Room. While less than a mile away from his old perch at the Watergate as editor in chief of the Hotline, a back room backbencher of much political importance.   WHCInsider talked with Todd about his much more public role.  (He received an expensive old-fashioned shaving kit from a viewer when he won the NBC White House chair).   Todd won’t comment on rumors he will be getting his own interview show on MSNBC, but he proudly shares anecdotes of 5-year-old Margaret and 2-year-old Harrison.

Chuck Todd

Q. What surprised you most about being a White House Correspondent?

A. The lack of physical access inside the White House.  The high irony is we connect the two buildings, the White House to the West Wing.  The folks in the white house get to decide where you sit, where you go. It is not new to this White House, it’s a every modern White House that’s controlling.

Q. Compare Obama campaign access vs. The White House?
A. The White House is more open and transparent than the campaign but only because you cannot run the White House in a tight circle of just five people.

Q. How about your transition into this reporter role?
A.  I had a lot of real frustration.  I don’t think Ana Maria Cox got it right about getting rid of the White House Correspondents.  We still have a real value, but you have a lot of the good reporting outside the White House.  It is easier to report from outside the White House. Read more…

thaddad Media Strategy Ana Marie Cox, Chuck Todd, White House correspondents

White House Correspondents tell WHCInsider.com that Gibbs’ briefing room nickname is “The Gibbsnotist” for his ability to “bring the temperature down” and put some correspondents to sleep.

Watch ABC News WH reporter Jake Tapper and veteran WH reporter, The Examiner’s Julie Mason, on reporting from the front and back rows of the White House briefing room.  Tapper talks about the change in his relationship with Press Secretary Gibbs from the campaign to the very public daily briefings.  Both agree that WHC tweets are not news but a good source of information.  The tweeting birds you hear in the background were not added in post but birds serenading the WH north lawn.

thaddad Correspondents Briefing Room, Jake Tapper, Julie Mason, Robert Gibbs

Michelle Obama to hand out scholarships to journalism students at WHCD while Jennifer Loven, WHCA Prez, cuts dessert and gives back money to DC food bank.

This year’s WHC dinner on Saturday, May 9, has a new feature.  First Lady Michelle Obama will personally hand out the annual awards that are funded by the White House Correspondents Association.  By eliminating dessert from the menu, Loven says they will pass on $23,000 in savings to a local charity.  The Washington Post’s The Sleuth, Mary Ann Akers reports.

BTriplett Uncategorized Michelle Obama, scholarships, White House Correspondents Dinner

The National Security Agency: Material for Comedy?

Wanda Sykes, this year’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner after-dinner entertainer, used to work at America’s top intelligence agency, with access to some of the United States’ most dear secrets. While the WHC Insider cannot confirm she was an actual spy, she has confirmed that she was a National Security Agency employee.

The stand-up comedian known for her in-your-face and sometimes raunchy sense of humor once worked at the super-secret NSA, the signals intelligence operation located in Maryland, just north of Washington. (You know, the one that can listen in on your phone calls without a warrant?) We wonder if Wanda ever took a ride on any of these aircraft in the NSA official photo gallery. Read more…

BTriplett Uncategorized

NBC’s White House Correspondent Chuck Todd told WHC Insider that the preparation and response to Monday’s Air Force One fly-by over Lower Manhattan was a classic example of a “bubble” mentality in the Obama administration.

gtruong Correspondents Air Force One, Chuck Todd, Obama

Fox’s broadcast network has decided not to carry President Obama’s 100th Day news conference live, and will broadcast “Lie to Me” in its regular 8:00 p.m. time slot. This is the third prime-time news conference for Obama, which industry experts estimate will cost the four broadcast networks “$10 million in lost advertising revenue,” according to the AP wire story.

An anonymous source told Associated Press ”that network executives had expressed concern to the White House about the frequency of prime-time news conferences and the financial sacrifice being made to carry the event.” Fox News Channel, Fox’s cable station, will carry the live feed.

gtruong Schedules and Announcements Fox Network, President Obama

As of April 28:

* CNN: Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore
* ABC News: David and Susan Axelrod; Rahm Emanuel, White House Chief of Staff; Peter Orszag, Director, Office of Management and Budget; Valerie Jarrett, senior presidential advisor; Jackie Norris, First Lady’s Chief of Staff; Leon Panetta, CIA Director; Susan Rice, UN Ambassador; Justice Antonin Scalia; Meghan McCain; Jon and Dorothea Bon Jovi; Kate Walsh; Taye Diggs and Idina Menzel
* NY Daily News: Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger
* Fortune: George Lucas and Glenn Close
* People: Sting and Trudie Styler, Miranda Cosgrove, Kevin Bacon, Forest Whitaker, Jon Hamm, Eva Longoria Parker, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, Brooke Shields
* Glamour: Narciso Rodriguez, Alicia Keys, Kenneth Cole, Kerry Washington and White House social secretary Desiree Rogers
* USA Today: Tim Daly, Justin Long, Richard Belzer, Deputy White House Chief of Staff Mona Sutphen, Dept. of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, Michelle Obama staffer Jocelyn Frye
* Atlantic Magazine:Ed Westick (Gossip Girl), Newt Gingrich *
* Others: Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Anne Hathaway

BTriplett Uncategorized

Barack Obama will address the nation on Wednesday, the 100th day of his presidency. Major networks are expected to carry the feed live at 8:00 p.m. EDT.

BTriplett Schedules and Announcements Add new tag, Barack Obama 100th day, Wednesday

David Adler The Podium Game

David Adler Uncategorized

Nest of Robins in Bushes Outside Briefing Room Entrance

A momma robin is oblivious to the noisy comings and goings of the press corps as she hatches and nurses her babies in nest near busy doorway. See AP story and pics here.

BTriplett Uncategorized AP, nest, robins, White House Press Briefing Room

Bon Jovi, Kate Walsh, Taye Diggs, Rahm Emanuel, David Axelrod, Meghan McCain, Antonin Scalia and More

ABC News will have its share of political and entertainment stars at its tables:

David Axelrod, White House senior advisor, and his wife Susan Axelrod
Rahm Emanuel, White House Chief of Staff
Peter Orszag, Director, Office of Management and Budget
Valerie Jarrett, senior presidential advisor
Jackie Norris, First Lady’s Chief of Staff
Leon Panetta, CIA Director
Susan Rice, UN Ambassador
Justice Antonin Scalia
Meghan McCain
Jon and Dorothea Bon Jovi
Kate Walsh
Taye Diggs and Idina Menzel

BTriplett Uncategorized ABC News, Bon Jovi, David Axelrod, Idina Menzel, Jackie Norris, Justice Antonin Scalia, Kate Walsh, Leon Panetta, Meghan McCain, Peter Orszag, Rahm Emanuel, Susan Rice, Taye Diggs, Valerie Jarrett, White House Correspondents Dinner

As they have before, People and Time will get the White House Correspondents Dinner weekend off to a glass-clinking start with a Friday night cocktail party in downtown D.C. Last year their WHCD-eve party drew a mix of insiders and stars. This year’s is not likely to be much different.

BTriplett Uncategorized People, People magazine, TIme, Time magazine, White House Correspondents Dinner

Hero of USAirways Flight 1549 to be Guest of NY Daily News

Chesley Burnett Sullenberger III — better known as “Sully,” the pilot who safely landed his crippled airliner on the Hudson River last January — will be attending the WHCD as a guest of the New York Daily News, Politico is reporting. The last time he was in D.C. was to receive personal thanks and congratulations from President Obama for his heroism. Click here for more.

BTriplett Uncategorized Chesley Burnett Sullenberger III, New York Daily News, Sully, USAirways

The WH Correspondents Dinner is known for outrageous moments, when a headline comedian roasts the President, who must sit and smile through the jokes. But in 2004, President Bush turned the tables on Jay Leno, giving him a little assist in standing.

John Fox Sullivan by Liz Lynch of National Journal

It was 2004 and Carl Cannon of National Journal was president of the White House Correspondents Association. National Journal Group Publisher John Fox Sullivan was seated on the dais, with a clear view of President and Laura Bush, and late night talk show host Jay Leno.

Sullivan said, “When it comes time for the president and the first lady to be seated, we all stand up, but Jay Leno was a little slow to rise from his seat. President Bush secretly reached over and goosed Leno, while making a funny sound to startle the comic.”

In a ballroom packed with 2000 reporters, a sitting president grabs an American icon — who is about to tell jokes at the president’s expense! This is what makes the White House Correspondents’ Dinner a must-attend event every year.

“The president looked at Leno with a wonderful jocular smile,” said Sullivan. ”Leno burst into laughter. After the speeches people asked what happened. Some thought it looked like Leno tripped.” Sullivan told WHC Insider it was one of the most memorable moments in his 33 years of working in Washington. 

Go to the Back Story to watch Leno’s 2004 roast of President Bush, after the president got closer than Leno ever expected.

thaddad History of Dinner Carl Cannon, Jay Leno, john fox sullivan, President Bush, White House Correspondents Association, White House Correspondents Dinner