“I said I could and I would. And I did.”
-Nellie Bly, Ten Days in a Mad-House
I believe in the media and the power of reporting.
When I think about what journalism as a profession is capable of, I think about Nellie Bly’s Ten Days in a Mad-House, where her inside reporting from within the “Women’s Lunatic Asylum” (what today would be known as a psychiatric care facility for women) led to substantial reform in the way we treat people with severe mental illnesses.
Or, I think about Hannah Erendt’s incredibly forward thinking reporting on, for instance, the trial of Adolf Eichmann, where she innovated the concept of “the banality of evil” - the means in which a normal person can become an active “worker” within a fascist state.
I think of your Woodwards, your Bernsteins, your DuBois’s, your Baldwins.
I think about the hundreds of journalists imprisoned across the world right now, or the eleven journalists who have been killed in the first quarter of 2025 alone (ten of which were in Palestine).
Look, I even think of more niche legends, like Canadian journalist Avery Haines, whose recent interview with and investigation into internet “gurus” Twin Flames Universe did more to paint an accurate picture of the allegations of coercive control, human trafficking, and, yes, being a cult, than two entire streaming series and hours upon hours of YouTube videos ever could.
But I don’t have that reverence for the moment we’re facing right now - and when we’re silencing Amber freaking Ruffin, maybe, just maybe, we’ve lost the plot a bit.
THE POWER SHIFTS.
Even at its worst, journalism can and should be the responsibility to simply inform the public of the day’s news - as honest a portrait as possible, or at least as honest as we can be with our own informed biases, of situations we all need to be aware of as citizens of Earth. There’s value in the never-ending doomscroll of Trump administration nonsense, and there’s also value in finding the good within the bad - for example, just this week, a 21-year-old man was CURED of sickle cell anemia through a groundbreaking new gene therapy.
Historically, or at least since 1983, a huge balancing act of all of this - the good, the bad, the speaking of truth to power - has been dealt at the annual White House Correspondents’ Association dinner… specifically, during the comedy portion of the night, which is almost treated as a roast of the current administration. The dinner itself, at least in theory, is meant to be the “main source of revenue to finance all of” the WHCA’s work, which at least in part includes scholarships for students in college journalism programs across the country.
It hasn’t been without its own set of controversies, because let’s face it: the idea that this is a way for the White House to remain cozy with the press, and maybe receive more favorable coverage from the journalists being honored, isn’t outside of the realm of reason.
NPR has reported that protests happened outside the dinner last year relating to Gaza and the year before relating to fossil fuel drilling, and whenever the dinner serves the purpose it needs to, it stokes its own set of controversies from within, like… well… ALL of Larry Wilmore’s scathing (and amazing) takedown of everyone from Don Lemon, to then-GOP-frontrunner Trump, to Ted “Zodiac Killer” Cruz.
That’s where the power of the WHCA dinner truly lies, though. Throughout the history of the dinner, we’ve seen incredible moments like Michelle Wolf calling Sarah Huckabee Sanders an “Uncle Tom for white women who disappoint other white women,” and Hasan Minhaj calling out “the leader of our country not being here… because he’s in Moscow.” It is incredibly likely that we would have seen some equally iconic moments, dare I say “healing” moments, at this year’s dinner, too, since it had been announced that the comedian performing would be none other than Amber Ruffin.
If you don’t know who Amber Ruffin is, may I advise you to turn on your TV for a moment and watch her amazing news panel show she co-hosts with Roy Wood Jr. and Michael Ian Black, Have I Got News For You. Or maybe pop on an episode of Late Night with Seth Meyers - a show she’s been writing on for over a decade. You can also watch her unfairly canceled A Black Lady Sketch Show on Max.
Amber Ruffin is an essential voice for the moment, and a generational talent that the WHCA should be grateful to have nabbed at this particular moment in time when *gestures wildly* ALL OF THIS is happening.
And yet on March 29, 2025, the WHCA announced that for only the fourth time ever, there would be no comedian at the dinner. Since the dinner began including comedians in 1983, they’ve only opted out of having a comedian present three times: in 1999 when Bill Clinton had been impeached, and in 2003, when the U.S. invaded Iraq. And again in 2019, when the WHCA decided on a more somber affair to honor the craft of journalism. They had historian Ron Chernow instead narrate the history of journalism within the White House.
Amber Ruffin being uninvited to the WHCA dinner is happening because we’re living through a historic moment, right?
Well… that’s one way of looking at it.
As reported by Christopher Wiggins for The Advocate, “The decision comes amid heightened tensions between the Trump White House and the media, and just weeks after the WHCA announced that queer comedian and Emmy-nominated writer Amber Ruffin would headline the April 26 event in Washington, D.C.”
They then share the statement Eugene Daniels, president of the WHCA, shared via letter:
“At this consequential moment for journalism, I want to ensure the focus is not on the politics of division but entirely on awarding our colleagues for their outstanding work and providing scholarship and mentorship to the next generation of journalists,” Daniels wrote, before adding that this is the start of “a re-envisioning of our dinner tradition.”
Furthermore: the decision was unanimous.
Which is some real coward shit, courtesy of the WHCA, but in the context of everything else, it’s a complete slap in the face to anybody who cares about press freedom.
You see, many are struggling these days to call Eugene an “effective” leader, or even a “chosen” leader. Back when the elections were being held for the 2024-2025 WHCA, Kaitlan Collins of CNN was chosen as President. Unfortunately for WHCA but fortunately for her, she had to almost immediately resign due to accepting a job as co-anchor on CNN This Morning.
Due to the way the WHCA is structured, the next in line is whomever received the next most amount of votes, regardless of the position they were elected to. In this case, that was… Treasurer. A position none other than Eugene Daniels had been voted into.
Thus: President Eugene Daniels was born. A Politico journalist known for co-writing the Politico Playbook, Eugene’s beat was, and is, almost exclusively related to scoops he gets from somewhere in the former Kamala Harris campaign.
As a journalist, Eugene is pretty good at his job. Prolific, dedicated, and due to his connections to Kamala Harris, he is able to get exclusive scoops few others have access to - such as the report he broke that Harris is considering running to become Governor of California in 2026 (Newsom has finally termed out). But as a leader, Eugene’s been feckless. Irresponsible. Spineless. And his response to the many, many attacks on the White House press pool has been to… accept a job at MSNBC as a full time correspondent, as well as a position as co-host of The Weekend alongside Jonathan Capehart.
Being a journalist is a very time consuming job, and being the President of the WHCA is a thankless position; afterall, the job is very much an unpaid volunteer position. Which is what makes it so frustrating that Eugene Daniels has committed to digging in his heels and saying all the right things while doing absolutely nothing except plan his escape to MSNBC.
This, as well as the removal of Amber Ruffin, are just the latest in a long string of Daniels’ missteps that are pissing not only me off, but plenty of other journalists.
Take this report from former CNN media reporter Oliver Darcy, who wrote about a virtual meeting with WHCA regarding the White House’s seizure of the press pool. Darcy describes Eugene attempting to reassure everyone that the WHCA board had everything under control, but journalists across both sides of the aisle weren’t having it.
“Daniels is well-liked in Washington, but his leadership at the WHCA is now facing scrutiny,” Darcy writes. “The first question Daniels faced was from The Washington Examiner’s Christian Datoc: Would Daniels serve out his full term as WHCA president now that he was leaving his correspondent role at POLITICO for an MSNBC hosting gig? It was likely not the opening question that Daniels had hoped for, given that it put his future in the position under scrutiny. Nevertheless, Daniels explained that he would continue covering the White House at MSNBC and that he had no intention of stepping down.”
The rest of the article is behind a paywall, but it’s highly worth your time and $15 if you want an eye-opening look behind the curtain, where Darcy describes over an hour of grilling from the press corps that encapsulates itself fully with the line:
“Some argued that the WHCA had all but surrendered, failing to mount a meaningful response to an unprecedented assault on the press.”
THE PROBLEM WITH “PERSONAL AMBITION”
When Joe Biden stepped down, he stated that “Nothing, including personal ambition, can get in the way of saving our Democracy.” Maybe that’s why I’m so incredibly frustrated by all of this that’s happening with the WHCA right now, because rather than even appear to put up a fight beyond pleasant words in a tweet, Eugene has subverted the entirety of Biden’s parting message.
It does indeed appear that personal ambition CAN get in the way of saving our Democracy.
By playing center of the road and capitulating to a man WHO IS NOT EVEN GOING TO BE AT THE WHCA DINNER, in honor of “not wanting to stoke divisive politics lol this isn’t an exact quote I’m on MSNBC now tho,” the WHCA and board have thrown Amber Ruffin under the bus. They’ve thrown democracy under the bus. Last year, the entire WHCA all wore pins honoring the journalists who had been locked up abroad for reporting the truth. This year, THEY’RE locking out dissenting voices.
Nellie Bly once wrote, “I said I could and I would. And I did.” This is a quote from the aforementioned Ten Days in a Mad-House, where Bly got herself admitted to a mental health facility to write an exposé on the state of mental health treatment in America. The quote has taken on new life in recent years as a sort of feminist war cry, and why shouldn’t it? Nellie Bly was a badass.
But few, if any, ever draw attention to the LAST line of the book:
“I have one consolation for my work–on the strength of my story, the committee of appropriation provides $1,000,000 more than was ever before given, for the benefit of the insane.”
This right here is what good journalism can accomplish: real, actual, meaningful change in the world. The acknowledgment that things are bad, and the evidence to support the idea that those things need to change. Right now, the WHCA is hurting journalism. He is providing “benefit of the insane,” but in an entirely different context.
Right now, the WHCA lacks effective leadership. So… who IS going to step up and lead.. are we at a point where this is possible? Or are we really just in a world where we have to do what we can to survive… and then.. survive for… what?
What’s left?
ONE MORE THING:
It may also be worth mentioning that Elon Musk is trying to buy the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Because - why just own Twitter… when you can own democracy, too?
If billionaires keep getting their way, they ain’t just just influencin’ politics – they’re rewriting the rulebook, folks. And if you don’t know the bias behind any of the news you read, you could actually believe Musk is just ‘defending the Constitution.’
That’s where Ground News comes in. It’s an app and website that pulls in every source on any story, so you can swipe through reports with context on each source’s political bias, credibility, and ownership to see who’s really controlling the narrative.
Since Ground News is independent and nonpartisan, they don’t care about pushing anything but the facts.
The goal with them is to solve the issue surrounding any distraction, spin, and missing context keeping the rich in power, while the rest of us argue over headlines.
So choose clarity over confusion…………. today.
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Amber Ruffin is a treasure, a joy on Seth Meyers, hilarious on HIGNFY, and provides a valuable point of view.
So is it time for ethical journalists to boycott WHCA or at least the Correspondents Dinner? This decision is obviously part of POTUS 47's scheme to silence the media.