President Donald Trump has announced that he will not attend this year’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner, a move that comes amid increasingly hostile relations between the media and the White House.

“I will not be attending the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner this year. Please wish everyone well and have a great evening!” Trump tweeted on Saturday.

The black-tie dinner, which raises money for journalism scholarships, takes place every spring and is usually attended by the president, journalists, celebrities and Washington insiders.

Several news organizations had already withdrawn from the April 29 event in protest of Trump’s treatment of the media.

Vanity Fair and Bloomberg, which usually co-host an exclusive, star-studded after-party, have canceled that gala, while The New Yorker similarly canceled its pre-party April 28.

Most other news organizations, including CNN, have yet to announce their official plans for the weekend. But some are said to be rethinking their attendance in the wake of the White House’s decision to block CNN, The New York Times and other outlets from an off-camera White House press briefing on Friday.

White House Correspondents Association President Jeff Mason told CNN’s Brianna Keilar on Saturday that Trump’s decision is not surprising given the negative things the President has said about the media, such as suggesting they are “the enemy of the American people.”

“That of course is something that the correspondents’ association and journalists reject,” Mason said. “The media is an incredibly important part of a vibrant republic, and we celebrate that at that dinner.

“It’s up to him to decide whether or not he wants to come,” he said. “But the correspondents’ association and the members who work in this room every day will continue to do our job and write the news and tell the truth about this administration, as we have done about every administration before.” </s> (CNN) — President Donald Trump has announced that he will not attend this year’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner, a move that comes amid increasingly hostile relations between the media and the White House.

“I will not be attending the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner this year. Please wish everyone well and have a great evening!” Trump tweeted on Saturday.

The black-tie dinner, which raises money for journalism scholarships, takes place every spring and is usually attended by the president, journalists, celebrities and Washington insiders.

Several news organizations had already withdrawn from the April 29 event in protest of Trump’s treatment of the media.

Vanity Fair and Bloomberg, which usually co-host an exclusive, star-studded after-party, have canceled that gala, while The New Yorker similarly canceled its pre-party April 28.

Most other news organizations, including CNN, have yet to announce their official plans for the weekend. But some are said to be rethinking their attendance in the wake of the White House’s decision to block CNN, The New York Times and other outlets from an off-camera White House press briefing on Friday.

White House Correspondents Association President Jeff Mason told CNN’s Brianna Keilar on Saturday that Trump’s decision is not surprising given the negative things the President has said about the media, such as suggesting they are “the enemy of the American people.”

“That of course is something that the correspondents’ association and journalists reject,” Mason said. “The media is an incredibly important part of a vibrant republic, and we celebrate that at that dinner.

“It’s up to him to decide whether or not he wants to come,” he said. “But the correspondents’ association and the members who work in this room every day will continue to do our job and write the news and tell the truth about this administration, as we have done about every administration before.” </s> Amid growing tension with the media, President Donald Trump said Saturday that he will not attend this year’s White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner.

The format for the event typically devolves into a roast between media members who closely cover the president and the highest elected official in the country.

“I will not be attending the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner this year,” Trump tweeted. “Please wish everyone well and have a great evening.”

I will not be attending the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner this year. Please wish everyone well and have a great evening! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) I will not be attending the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner this year. Please wish everyone well and have a great evening! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 25, 2017 ">February 25, 2017

Trump has called the media the enemy of the people on multiple occasions since becoming president and said this week he intends to “do something about” the media. Earlier in the week, some members of certain media outlets including The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times and CNN were not allowed to attend a press briefing with administration spokesman Sean Spicer. This came on the heels of White House chief strategist Steve Bannon saying attacks on the “corporatist globalist media” would continue.

Trump’s cancellation also comes as multiple media groups are scrubbing plans to host parties surrounding the event. Vanity Fair, Bloomberg and The New Yorker, which all typically host events attended by celebrities, politicians and media members, opted out this year, according to Deadline.

The White House Correspondents’ Association still plans to have the dinner April 29.

“The WHCA takes note of President Donald Trump’s announcement on Twitter that he does not plan to attend the dinner, which has been and will continue to be a celebration of the First Amendment and the important role played by an independent news media in a healthy republic,” Jeff Mason, association president, said in a statement. </s> United States President Donald Trump has said he will not attend the annual White House Correspondents' Association dinner, a high-profile event that draws celebrities, politicians and journalists.

His announcement came a day after the White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA) President said they were "protesting strongly" against the White House's decision to exclude several major news outlets from an informal press briefing.

Reporters for CNN, The New York Times, Politico, the Los Angeles Times and BuzzFeed were not allowed into the session in the office of the White House press secretary, Sean Spicer.

Mr Trump has had a strained relationship with the press, calling journalists "the enemy of the people" and frequently criticising outlets and individual reporters whose coverage he does not like.

The annual WHCA dinner will be held on April 29 in Washington.

Some news outlets such as Bloomberg News and The New Yorker, which typically host lavish after-parties, have said they are backing out this year.

Critics say the event, which usually features a humorous speech by the sitting president, encourages journalists to cosy up to politicians they should cover aggressively.

The event occasionally makes news: in 2011, President Barack Obama delivered a scathing evisceration of Mr Trump, joking that the mogul, who sat stone-faced in the audience, would move on from questioning Mr Obama's citizenship to figuring out "did we fake the moon landing". </s> WASHINGTON (AP) - President Donald Trump says he won't be attending the annual White House Correspondents' Association dinner this spring.

In a tweet on Saturday, the president doesn't give a reason but says he wishes "everyone well and have a great evening!"

The annual fundraiser for college scholarships mixes politicians, journalists and celebrities.

Trump has long had an adversarial relationship with news media. In recent weeks, he has accused some news outlets of publishing "fake news."

Trump has also slammed reporters for using anonymous sources. His frustration includes reports describing contacts between his campaign advisers and Russian intelligence agents, which the White House has disputed. Yet members of his staff regularly demand anonymity when talking to reporters.

The White House Correspondents' Dinner released the following response on Twitter:

Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. </s> President Donald Trump announced this evening that he will not be attending the White House Correspondents’ Dinner this year. The annual dinner, a tradition since it began in 1920, is organized by the journalists who cover the White House and has been attended by the past 15 presidents, Republicans and Democrats. (Ronald Reagan, recuperating from an assassination attempt in 1981, delivered his remarks by phone ). Former President Barack Obama attended all eight dinners during his two-term presidency, memorably using the opportunity to both demonstrate his sense of humor and his ability to take a joke at his own expense. The event—an increasingly glitzy chance for celebrities, politicians, and the people who orbit them to rub shoulders—has come under some strain this year, considering the Trump administration’s current fraught relationship with the press: The President’s advisers call the media “the opposition party”; the President has called it the enemy of the American people. On Friday, in an unprecedented turn of events, CNN, The New York Times , The Los Angeles Times , and Politico were blocked from attending White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer’s briefing. Journalists from conservative outlets such as Breitbart News and Fox News were allowed inside.

“I will not be attending the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner this year,” the President wrote on his personal Twitter account . “Please wish everyone well and have a great evening!” Looks like there’s going to be a lot more RSVP’s for Samantha Bee’s party , “Not the White House Correspondents’ Dinner,” funds from which are going to—what else?—the Committee to Protect Journalists . </s> "I will not be attending the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner this year. Please wish everyone well and have a great evening!" Trump tweeted on Saturday.

The black-tie dinner, which raises money for journalism scholarships, takes place every spring and is usually attended by the president, journalists, celebrities and Washington insiders.

Several news organizations had already withdrawn from the April 29 event in protest of Trump's treatment of the media.

Vanity Fair and Bloomberg, which usually co-host an exclusive, star-studded after-party, have canceled that gala, while The New Yorker similarly canceled its pre-party April 28.

Most other news organizations, including CNN, have yet to announce their official plans for the weekend. But some are said to be rethinking their attendance in the wake of the White House's decision to block CNN , The New York Times and other outlets from an off-camera White House press briefing on Friday. White House Correspondents Association President Jeff Mason told CNN's Brianna Keilar on Saturday that Trump's decision is not surprising given the negative things the President has said about the media, such as suggesting they are "the enemy of the American people." "That of course is something that the correspondents' association and journalists reject," Mason said. "The media is an incredibly important part of a vibrant republic, and we celebrate that at that dinner. "It's up to him to decide whether or not he wants to come," he said. "But the correspondents' association and the members who work in this room every day will continue to do our job and write the news and tell the truth about this administration, as we have done about every administration before." </s> President Donald Trump shockingly announced on Feb. 25 that he will not be attending the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, amid growing tensions between his administration and the press. Several media outlets will also not be attending.

Donald Trump, 70, officially confirmed he will not be attending the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner on April 29. The president took to Twitter with his announcement on Feb. 25, amid the drama between his administration and the press. He wrote, “I will not be attending the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner this year. Please wish everyone well and have a great evening!” This comes shortly after CNN, The New York Times, Politico and several other media organizations were blocked from attending a White House press briefing.

Trump will be the first President of the United States NOT to attend the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in thirty years. The business outlet Bloomberg reportedly canceled their annual party in celebration of the dinner. The company usually co-hosts the event with Vanity Fair, but the popular magazine also reportedly decided to opt out earlier this month.

The New Yorker and the casts of House of Cards, Veep and Scandal will also not be making an appearance, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Proceeds raised by the dinner go toward scholarships and aspiring journalist awards. Meanwhile, Samantha Bee is also planning a “Not the White House Correspondents’ Dinner” on April 29, in protest of the Trump administration.

Click Here For More Photos Of The President & First Lady!

On Feb. 25, Trump also urged voters to hold their own “Make America Great Again” rally, which he claimed would “be the biggest of them all!” He even took to Twitter almost an hour later to continue his thought. “The media has not reported that the National Debt in my first month went down by $12 billion vs a $200 billion increase in [Barack] Obama first mo.,” he wrote, before sharing another tweet that read, “Great optimism for future of U.S. business, AND JOBS, with the DOW having an 11th straight record close. Big tax & regulation cuts coming!”

HollywoodLifers, do you think he’ll decide to go in the last-minute? Let us know! </s> Donald Trump on Saturday capped a week of tumultuous relations with the press by saying he will not attend this year’s White House correspondents’ dinner, which is scheduled for 29 April.

“I will not be attending the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner this year,” the president wrote on Twitter. “Please wish everyone well and have a great evening!”

The news came as relations between the Trump administration and the press have sunk to new lows. On Friday, leading news outlets including the New York Times, CNN and the Guardian were excluded from a briefing by press secretary Sean Spicer while friendlier conservative organisations were admitted.

Editors of excluded organisations expressed anger, although White House Correspondents Association (WHCA) president Jeff Mason attempted to calm troubled waters. Mason did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Saturday.

Trump has reacted angrily to a series of reports citing anonymous sources in the White House, law enforcement and intelligence agencies about chaos in his administration, alleged contacts between campaign staff and Russian agents, and White House attempts to rebut such reports.

The difficult relationship between Trump – whose senior adviser Steve Bannon, formerly chief of the rightwing website Breitbart News, has repeatedly called the press “the opposition party” – and the media has already contributed to a number of withdrawals from the correspondents’ dinner and related events.

This week Bloomberg followed Vanity Fair and the New Yorker in saying it would not host a party tied to the dinner. The New York Times has not attended the event since 2008; the Guardian will not attend this year. This week, Buzzfeed reported that another favourite target of Trump’s, CNN, was considering pulling out as well.

Trump followed a familiar path on Friday night, when he wrote on Twitter: “FAKE NEWS media knowingly doesn’t tell the truth. A great danger to our country. The failing @nytimes has become a joke. Likewise @CNN. Sad!”

Many observers have linked Trump’s run for the presidency with events at the 2011 correspondents’ dinner, in which Barack Obama ridiculed the businessman, who was in attendance, over his championing of the so-called “birther” movement.

The dinner is a traditionally lighthearted affair, celebrities mixing with journalists at tables and comedians “roasting” the president of the day, as Stephen Colbert did to George W Bush in an infamous speech from 2006. The president traditionally speaks as well.

The first dinner was held in 1921 and Calvin Coolidge was the first president to attend, in 1924. Since then every president has attended the dinner at least once.

Ronald Reagan did not attend in 1981 – after being shot – and Jimmy Carter and Richard Nixon did not always sit down for dinner. Obama attended all eight events while he was in office.

According to the History Channel the dinner has been cancelled three times: following the death of former president William Howard Taft, in 1930, after the US entry into the second world war in 1942, and in 1951, during the Korean war.

In January, Trump skipped the Alfalfa Club dinner, another key event in the social calendar of a city to which the president is happy to pose as an outsider.

In a statement issued on Saturday, Guardian US editor Lee Glendinning said the exclusion of news outlets from Friday’s briefing was “deeply troubling and divisive” and added: “Holding power to account is an essential part of the democratic process, and that’s exactly what the Guardian will continue to do.”
Donald Trump announces he will not attend the 2017 White House Correspondents' Dinner, following recent friction between his administration and various news organizations.