The White House Correspondents’ Association is very happy to announce the creation of a new scholarship in partnership with the Scripps Howard School of Journalism and Communications at Hampton University and supported by Reuters.

“Today’s White House correspondents take tremendous pride in helping to foster the development of the most promising journalists of tomorrow,” said WHCA president Steven Portnoy. “We are excited to watch the careers of Hampton’s WHCA scholars take flight, and grateful to Reuters for its partnership.”

“We’re inspired and excited about this annual scholarship to benefit our students, and our expanded relationship with the WHCA,” said Julia Wilson, dean of Hampton’s Scripps Howard School of Journalism and Communications. “This scholarship will help elevate Hampton’s stature and include our school among our nation’s top journalism schools. We plan to be not only the top Historically Black College and University journalism and communications school, but one of the best in the nation.” 

“Covering the diverse world in which we live requires a more diverse newsroom,” said Alessandra Galloni, Reuters editor-in-chief. “We’re delighted to extend the ‘Trust in Reporting’ scholarship to Hampton University to further this mission and to provide the next generation of journalists the opportunity to develop crucial skills both through formal education as well as hands-on training.”

Hampton becomes the 12^th university from across the country to partner with the WHCA to help promising young journalists, many of them the White House correspondents of the future.

The others are American University, Arizona State University, Columbia University, Howard University, Northwestern University, Ohio University, the University of California at Berkeley, the University of Kansas, the University of Maryland, the University of Missouri and University of Tennessee.

The WHCA also has scholarship partnerships with the Asian American Journalists Association and the National Association of Hispanic Journalists.

And it honors an independently financed scholarship recipient from Iowa State University, in partnership with the White House Historical Association.

The “Truth in Reporting” scholarship at Hampton will go to a journalism student at the Scripps school, preferably with an interest in government and/or political reporting. The $7,000 annual grant is financed by Reuters. 

The student will be invited to a scholarship luncheon in the spring and to the annual WHCA dinner in Washington, scheduled this year for April 30. The student also will be paired for a year with a volunteer mentor from among the White House press corps.

For more information, contact Executive Director Steve Thomma at director@whca.press

About the WHCA

Founded in 1914, the White House Correspondents’ Association exists to promote excellence in journalism as well as journalism education, and to ensure robust news coverage of the president and the presidency. We support awards for some of the best political reporting of the past year, and scholarships for young reporters who carry our hopes for vibrant journalism in the years to come. Each day, we work to ensure that the men and women who cover the White House have the ability to seek answers from powerful officials, up to and including the President.

Our association comprises hundreds of members from the worlds of print, television, radio and online journalism. Their work, for outlets based in the United States and overseas, reaches a global audience.

About Hampton University

Hampton University is a private historically black research university, based in Hampton, Va.  It was founded in 1868, after the civil War, by Black and white leaders of the American Missionary Association, to provide education to freedmen. Hampton has one of world’s top stand-alone proton cancer treatment facilities and controls one of the nation’s foremost weather satellite systems.

About Reuters

Reuters, the news and media division of Thomson Reuters, is the world’s largest multimedia news provider. Founded in 1851, Reuters is committed to the Trust Principles of independence, integrity and freedom from bias. With unmatched coverage in over 16 languages, and reaching billions of people worldwide every day, it provides trusted intelligence that powers humans and machines to make smart decisions. Reuters supplies business, financial, national and international news to professionals via desktop terminals, the world’s media organizations, industry events and directly to consumers.

The WHCA joins Vatican reporters in expressing our disappointment that the world won’t see live pictures of President Biden’s meeting with Pope Francis.

Reporters have been covering the papal audiences of American presidents since Woodrow Wilson sat with Benedict XV in January 1919. Most recently, members of our White House press corps helped bring the world pictures of Francis’s meetings with Presidents Obama and Trump.  

Our fully vaccinated and masked pool of reporters is ready to continue this public service, mindful of its own safety as well as the leaders’, to ensure independent coverage of the first Catholic president in 60 years meeting with the head of the Catholic church.

The White House told us the bilateral meeting would involve Biden and Francis discussing substantive matters of global significance “including ending the COVID-19 pandemic, tackling the climate crisis, and caring for the poor.” Such an international news event demands independent coverage.

-Steven Portnoy, WHCA President

Pursuant to Article VI, Section 2 of the WHCA bylaws, the WHCA Executive Board convened July 7 to break the tie in the race for the At-Large seat for the 2021-2024 term.

By a vote of 7-2, Kelly O’Donnell of NBC News has been elected, and pursuant to Article VII, Section 1(a) of the bylaws, is declared the winner of the race to be for the presidency 2023-2024 year.

WHCA Election Results – July 5, 2021

Here are the results of the 2021 WHCA elections. A total of 397 ballots were submitted.

RADIO SEAT 2021-2024

Karen Travers, ABC News                             374

Abstain                                                              19

Write-in                                                               4

(Steve Herman, Sagar Meghani, Franco Ordonez, Bricio Segovia – 1 each)

WIRE SEAT 2021-2024

Justin Sink, Bloomberg                                  364

Abstain                                                              24

Write-in                                                              9

(Steve Holland 5; Rob Crilly 1; Jeff Mason 1; Zeke Miller 1; Jennifer Jacobs 1)    

AT-LARGE SEAT 2021-2024

Anita Kumar, Politico                                     197

Kelly O’Donnell, NBC News                          197

Write-in                                                           0

Abstain                                                            3

**Pursuant to Article VII, Section 1(a) of the WHCA bylaws, a candidate for president must also win a seat on the WHCA board to fill that post.

This year’s vote for the At-Large seat resulted in a tie. Article VI, Section 2 states, “In the event of a tie for any vacancy or office, the outgoing Executive Board shall vote to break the tie.” The WHCA Executive Board will convene this week to resolve the tie vote for the At-Large seat and the 2023-2024 presidency.** 

PRESIDENT 2023-2024

Kelly O’Donnell, NBC News                         204

Anita Kumar, Politico                                   191

Write-in                                                           0

Abstain                                                            2

TO AMEND BYLAWS

Yes                                                                  333

No                                                                   20

Abstain                                                            44

The White House Correspondents’ Association is pleased to announce a new scholarship at the University of Tennessee.

The Carter Holland memorial scholarship will be in honor of the late Carter Holland, a promising young journalist and the son of Lucie and Steven Holland, a longtime White House correspondent for Reuters and a former president of the WHCA. Carter Holland died in 2020.

“The WHCA is excited to partner with the University of Tennessee to help support the next generation of promising young journalists like Carter Holland,” said Zeke Miller, president of the association.

The annual scholarship will be for $4,000, with the WHCA and the university each contributing half.

“The School of Journalism and Electronic Media at the University of Tennessee is truly grateful for this new scholarship from the White House Correspondents’ Association,” said Catherine Luther, Director of the school. “It will allow our students who are focusing on political and investigative reporting to have the invaluable experience of visiting Washington, D.C. and meeting with established professional journalists covering the White House. I am confident that this prestigious scholarship will serve to further inspire our journalism students to pursue impactful stories involving politics and democracy.”

With the new partnership with the University of Tennessee, the WHCA will now sponsor scholarships at 11 universities around the United States. The others are American University, Arizona State University, Columbia University, Howard University, Northwestern University, Ohio University, the University of California at Berkeley, the University of Kansas, the University of Maryland and the University of Missouri.

The WHCA also co-sponsors two additional scholarships in partnership with the Asian American Journalists Association and the National Association of Hispanic Journalists.

Since the association started helping journalism students in 1991, it has awarded more than $1.5 million in scholarships, and leveraged another $1.25 million in aid.

The scholarships are financed by proceeds from the annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner and tax-deductible contributions to the WHCA. 

Click here make a tax deductible donation in support of scholarships:

About the University of Tennessee

As part of the University of Tennessee’s land-grant mission, the School of Journalism and Electronic Media is committed to providing excellence in education to undergraduate and graduate students from diverse populations. Students are able to concentrate their studies in the areas of journalism, creative media productions, sports communication, or science communication. The school currently has around 400 undergraduate students and 30 graduate students. Many of its graduates have gone on to work for prominent media outlets including The Wall Street Journal, NBC Universal, ABC News, CNN, USA Today, and ESPN.

About the WHCA

The White House Correspondents’ Association exists to promote excellence in journalism as well as journalism education, and to ensure robust news coverage of the president and the presidency. We support awards for some of the best political reporting of the past year, and scholarships for young reporters who carry our hopes for vibrant journalism in the years to come. Each day, we work to ensure that the men and women who cover the White House have the ability to seek answers from powerful officials, up to and including the President.

For more information, contact Executive Director Steve Thomma at director@whca.press

Dear colleagues,

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has updated its guidance on mask wearing for fully vaccinated individuals, citing the effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccines. We can all agree that is an important step closer to returning to normal after 15 months of disruption.

Effective immediately, pursuant to the new CDC guidance, mask-wearing requirements are lifted at the White House complex for those who are 14 days after their last required dose of one of the COVID-19 shots.

The WHCA is working in earnest with the White House on a range of other changes to safely bring things closer to ‘normal’ for journalists on the complex. We anticipate being able to outline additional significant adjustments in the coming days. In the interim, all other current guidance remains in place.

Sincerely,

The WHCA Board

We regret to announce that we are unable to hold our annual dinner this year.

We have worked through any number of scenarios over the last several months, but to put it plainly: while improving rapidly, the COVID-19 landscape is just not at a place where we could make the necessary decisions to go ahead with such a large indoor event.

Dinner or not, we will spend the next few months celebrating and honoring the First Amendment, the remarkable journalism produced over the last year and the promising young reporters who will serve as the next generation in our ranks.

–We will soon announce our annual awards for the very best in presidential news coverage, not to mention the second annual Katharine Graham Award for Courage and Accountability of national significance;

–In the coming weeks we’ll be announcing our latest cohort of WHCA Scholarship winners from around the country, a truly impressive group of up-and-coming journalists;

–We have planned a series of events to showcase the best of journalism, in part for those very students;

–And last but surely not least, we will do all this in person next year, with the WHCA annual dinner on April 30, 2022.

Our top priority remains ensuring that journalists can continue to safely work from the White House and fulfill their vital role in keeping the public informed. Expect information in the coming weeks about our annual membership town hall, at which we will outline plans to safely begin easing some virus-related restrictions.

-The White House Correspondents’ Association

The White House Correspondents’ Association is very happy to announce the creation of a new scholarship in partnership with the Asian American Journalists Association.

“We’re thrilled to be joining with the AAJA in this new partnership and excited about the chance to help not only a promising student, but to encourage and assist a whole new generation of  young journalists who represent the diversity of the country and increasingly the newsrooms of America,” said WHCA President Zeke Miller.

“We are honored and excited to launch this partnership alongside the WHCA,” said Michelle Lee, AAJA President. “Providing Asian American and Pacific Islander student journalists an opportunity to be mentored by an experienced AAJA member is core to our mission of building a pipeline of AAPI journalists and supporting students with scholarship assistance, guidance and a professional network.”

The new scholarship adds to partnerships the WHCA already has with 10 universities around the United States. They are American University, Arizona State University, Columbia University, Howard University, Northwestern University, Ohio University, the University of California at Berkeley, the University of Kansas, the University of Maryland and the University of Missouri.

It also has a scholarship partnership with the National Association of Hispanic Journalists.

And the WHCA honors an independently financed scholarship recipient from Iowa State University, in partnership with the White House Historical Association.

The new WHCA-AAJA scholarship will be for $2,000 each year, with the WHCA contributing half and the AAJA contributing half. The student also will be matched with a volunteer mentor from the White House press corps for a year.

Since the WHCA started helping students in 1991, it has awarded more than $1.4 million in scholarships and leveraged an additional $1.2 million in aid. Scholarships are financed by donations – anyone can help by donating here – and by proceeds from the association’s annual dinner.

For more information, contact Executive Director Steve Thomma at director@whca.press

About the WHCA

The White House Correspondents’ Association exists to promote excellence in journalism as well as journalism education, and to ensure robust news coverage of the president and the presidency. We support awards for some of the best political reporting of the past year, and scholarships for young reporters who carry our hopes for vibrant journalism in the years to come. Each day, we work to ensure that the men and women who cover the White House have the ability to seek answers from powerful officials, up to and including the President.

On Twitter @whca

Online at www.whca.press:

About AAJA 

The Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) is a membership nonprofit advancing diversity in newsrooms and ensuring fair and accurate coverage of communities of color. AAJA has more than 1,500 members across the United States and Asia. AAJA’s four-fold mission is to increase AAPI perspectives and representation in newsrooms, media, and storytelling. We do so by the following: 

• To provide a means of association and support among Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) journalists, and to advance AAPI journalists as news managers and media executives.
• To provide encouragement, information, advice and scholarship assistance to AAPI students who aspire to professional journalism careers.
• To provide to the AAPI community an awareness of news media and an understanding of how to gain fair access.
• To research and point out when news media organizations stray from accuracy and fairness in the coverage of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and AAPI issues.

On Twitter: @aaja 

Online at www.aaja.org

“At a moment when the world already has watched an assault on our democratic institutions, the Trump administration has chosen to send another message – with an assault on the First Amendment. It did so at the Voice of America, a taxpayer-supported service tasked by Congress with broadcasting uncensored journalism to the world to demonstrate freedoms – particularly freedom of the press – that the United States hopes all nations will emulate. VOA’s reassignment of Patsy Widakuswara for doing her job, asking questions, is an affront to the very ideals Secretary of State Pompeo discussed in his speech Monday. The move, mere hours before Widakuswara was to fly with the president as a member of the travel pool on Air Force One, harms the interests of all Americans who depend on the free press to learn about the actions of their government and gives comfort to efforts to restrict press freedom around the world.”

–Zeke Miller, president, White House Correspondents’ Association, on behalf of the board of the WHCA

The White House Correspondents’ Association is pleased to announce the creation of a new scholarship in partnership with the National Association of Hispanic Journalists.

“The White House Correspondents’ Association is excited to begin this partnership with NAHJ, as we look to foster the next generation of journalists that reflects the diversity of the nation,” said Zeke Miller, president of the WHCA.

The new scholarship adds to partnerships the association already has with 10 universities around the United States. They are American University, Arizona State University, Columbia University, Howard University, Northwestern University, Ohio University, the University of California at Berkeley, the University of Kansas, the University of Maryland and the University of Missouri.

The WHCA also honors an independently financed scholarship recipient from Iowa State University, in partnership with the White House Historical Association.

All are assigned volunteer mentors for a year from among the veteran journalists of the White House press corps.

“Historically, NAHJ and the White House Correspondents’ Association have a shared priority in each organization’s work to nurture the next generation of journalists,” said Alberto B. Mendoza, executive director of the NAHJ. “This scholarship will significantly increase the impact, as representation is crucial to the press corps’ role in providing access to the public and ensuring equal access to all news sources.”

The WHCA-NAHJ Scholarship will be awarded each year to a student with a demonstrated interest in a career in journalism and proven academic performance. The student must be aware of the issues facing the Latino community and Latinos in the newsroom while also striving to portray all people in a fair and accurate manner in coverage of stories.

The scholarship will be for $2,000 each year, with the WHCA contributing half and the NAHJ contributing half.

For more information, contact Executive Director Steve Thomma at director@whca.press

About the WHCA

Founded in 1914, the White House Correspondents’ Association exists to promote excellence in journalism as well as journalism education, and to ensure robust news coverage of the president and the presidency. We support awards for some of the best political reporting of the past year, and scholarships for young reporters who carry our hopes for vibrant journalism in the years to come. Each day, we work to ensure that the men and women who cover the White House have the ability to seek answers from powerful officials, up to and including the President.

Our association comprises hundreds of members from the worlds of print, television, radio and online journalism. Their work, for outlets based in the United States and overseas, reaches a global audience.

About the NAHJ

The National Association of Hispanic Journalists is the largest organization of Latino journalists in the United States and dedicated to the recognition and professional advancement of Hispanics in the news industry. The mission of NAHJ is to increase the number of Latinos in the newsrooms and to work toward fair and accurate representation of Latinos in the news media. Established in April 1984, NAHJ created a national voice and unified vision for all Hispanic journalists. NAHJ has over 3,200 members, including working journalists, journalism students, other media-related professionals, and journalism educators. For more information please visit NAHJ.org or follow on Twitter @NAHJ. 

Since the onset of the pandemic, the WHCA has made it its primary mission to facilitatethe safest possible working environment for journalists at the White House. From reducing seating in the briefing room and workspaces to enforcing a face-covering requirement, we have acted to reflect the latest CDC and local government guidance. Since March, we have advocated publicly, but also privately, for measures to protect journalists and their ability to do their work in these uncertain times. 

The events of the past week have understandably raised concerns and sparked frustrations about working conditions at the White House. We share them. We bring you this update in hopes that it will help you all prepare for the days and weeks ahead.

First off, our thoughts are with our three colleagues who are dealing with the coronavirus. We wish them a quick and complete recovery.

Since Friday, dozens and dozens of tests have been conducted on members of our press corps who were potentially exposed. At this moment, we do not have any additional confirmed cases of COVID-19 among White House journalists nor any indications of journalist-to-journalist spread. While we are awaiting additional test results for some members, it appears clear that our safe behavior has helped contain this virus. We haven’t just been lucky, we have followed science and we have been vigilant. 

The WHCA has repeatedly pressed the White House at all levels to take steps to improve the safety conditions for journalists working there — and specifically to avoid knowingly putting in unnecessary jeopardy those serving in the pool who must be present as the eyes and ears of the American public. At a bare minimum, that should entail following the administration’s own guidelines on protecting people from the spread of the virus.

We are alarmedthat multiplestaffers in the White House press office have tested positive in recent days. We are informed that the latest positive cases in the press office have not been on the complex since Friday, and as such no journalists were deemed to be “close contacts” under CDC guidelines, which look back 48 hours from a positive test sample collection or the onset of symptoms. 

We have communicated to the White House that, as a press corps, we would like more information to evaluate our own potential exposure. We have pressed for them to provide updates on known and suspected infections so that reporters can as soon as possible know if they and their families have been put at risk. The administration, citing privacy concerns, has not provided additional details.

In the immediate days ahead, we continue to insist that journalists who are not in the pool and do not have an enclosed workspace refrain from entering the indoor press areas of the White House. We would also strongly encourage all journalists to avoid working from the White House grounds entirely if it can be avoided.

For those who must work at the White House, a mask continues to be required in any shared indoor press areas and we strongly suggest working outdoors as much as possible.

We again encourage journalists who have been at the White House since 9/26 to avail themselves of other testing options, through their local health department, personal physician, employer or other accommodation before returning to the White House complex.

We expect daily testing for the in-town, and eventually out-of-town, pools to continue. But as we all know, and as recent events have shown, frequent testing is a necessary but not sufficient condition for containing the virus.

Still, despite everything we’ve experienced in recent days, it would be foolish of us to assume that the situation at the White House or on the campaign trail will improve dramatically over the coming four weeks.

That means that we as a press corps, and each of us individually, must be clear-eyed about the potential risks of COVID-exposure on the job, taking every precaution we can to fulfill our coverage obligations while being prepared for situations with which we may not be comfortable. For instance, if you’re going to want an N95-type mask or goggles in a crowded room, don’t show up to pool duty without them.

We are an association of individuals with different risk tolerances, health statuses, family obligations, and corporate policies, and it is critical that we consider all of those before embarking on a pool assignment. If you have specific concerns, please reach out to us.

We are also all committed professionals who have worked under challenging circumstances to sustain the pool for the last seven months. Being there to ask the important questions is vital to the American public that relies on us for information.

Thank you for your cooperation and professionalism during these challenging times. And please don’t hesitate to reach out to Zeke (zmiller@ap.org) or the rest of the board if you have specific questions or concerns.

—The WHCA Board

Dear colleagues,

First off, I want to thank you all for your professionalism under these difficult and uncertain circumstances. Despite it all, we have maintained the protective pool around the president, a responsibility that is now more important than ever.

An update on where we stand: As of this moment, three White House journalists tested positive for COVID-19 today.

Individual 1 (Numbered in order of notification) received a preliminary positive test this morning at call time in the White House. The individual subsequently left the complex and received a confirming positive test. This individual was also at the White House briefing this past Sunday.

Individual 2 was most recently part of the out-of-town travel pool on Saturday for the trip to Pennsylvania but was briefly at the White House earlier in the day for a COVID test. That individual began experiencing symptoms on Thursday and tested positive earlier today.

Individual 3 was most recently part of the in-town travel pool on Sunday, which included a presidential news conference and a trip to the golf course. They also were in the in-town pool on Saturday, which included the Rose Garden event. That individual began experiencing symptoms late Wednesday and received a positive test result this afternoon.

The White House Medical Unit is beginning the process of contact tracing for these cases. We do not yet have an estimated time of completion for that process.

Given these positive cases, the president’s diagnosis and positive cases among other members of the White House staff, a number of White House journalists are self-isolating pending diagnostic testing.

Where do we go from here: Due to cases linked to the pools last weekend and the large number of press credentialed for the 9/26 Rose Garden event, we ask that if you were on the White House grounds or in the pools those days, that you pay extra attention to any changes in your health.

As of now, the White House has committed to testing those who were on Air Force One in the last week on Monday morning at call time. We strongly encourage other journalists who may have been exposed this week to avail themselves of other testing options, through their local health department, personal physician, employer or other accommodation before returning to the White House complex.

For seven months, we have been clear-eyed about the inherent risks in fulfilling our obligation to keeping the American public informed. Today those risks are more evident than ever, but our work is only growing more vital.

To allow that work to continue, we are insisting that journalists who are not in the pool and do not have an enclosed workspace to refrain from working out of the White House at this time. We must lower our exposure to possible further infections. When in the shared press areas, including at desks, please wear a mask at all times.

Avoid congregating in the break room or other areas. We urge you to take meals outdoors to minimize any time spent inside without a mask. This weekend, the weather will be pleasant and I suggest bringing a lawn chair and working from the driveway if you absolutely must be at the White House.

When going about your daily lives, please do your best to minimize risk. Your efforts both in and outside of the White House press work area are critical to maintaining a healthy press corps.

If you are returning from non-essential travel to any of the high-risk states listed in Mayor Bowser’s executive order, we ask that you avoid working from the White House press workspace during the 14 day self-quarantine period. (Journalistic assignments are considered essential.)

Finally, If you are experiencing COVID-19 symptoms or test positive for the virus, please notify WHCA President Zeke Miller and Vice President Steven Portnoy immediately. 

Please don’t hesitate to reach out to the WHCA Board if you have any questions.

Thank you for your cooperation,

Zeke