*Before running this story, on Thursday evening, we reached out to Steven Portnoy, President of WHCA, and HR of CBS for comment, but they did not respond. Here’s our story.
On Saturday night, the White House Correspondents Association hosted an indoor event in the basement of the Hilton hotel in Washington DC. Since then, every news network has been hit with COVID, and the number of cases are rising. At the same time, the news headlines are missing. Vanity or hypocrisy journalism? Pick to your liking, but one thing is sure, the WHCA dinner is becoming a superspreader.
“It is my great honor to be speaking tonight at the nation’s most distinguished super spreader event,” said Trevor Noah in his opening monologue at the WHCA dinner. “What are we doing? Did none of you learn anything from the Gridiron Dinner? Nothing, huh?”
His words turned out to be prophetic.
The herd went in circles playing a Covid roulette.
Before we knew it, ABC’s Jonathan Karl, who sat at the table next to Kim Kardashian, who arrived at the dinner with “more security than the President,” went public with a positive test. So did VOA’s, Steve Herman. Secretary Blinken, who sat at the NBC table, raised his hand on Wednesday to declare a positive PCR test. But then, there were pre-dinner parties and after-parties. The herd went in circles playing a Covid roulette.
Desus Nice, Naomi Biden, Philippe Étienne, French Ambassador and Ashley Biden at the Paramount White House Correspondents’ Dinner after party at the French Ambassador’s residence, in Washington, D.C., on April 30, 2022. Photo credit: Mary Kouw/CBS ©2022 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken attended with Evan Ryan the CBS Paramount after-party at the French Ambassador’s residence. At the Paramount party Neeraj Khemlani, George Cheeks, and President Biden’s granddaughter Naomi Biden were some of the many guests.
Antony Blinken, United States Secretary of State at the Paramount White House Correspondents’ Dinner after party at the French Ambassador’s residence, in Washington, D.C., on April 30, 2022. Photo credit: Mary Kouw/CBS ©2022 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Jonathan Karl was spotted at the ABC pre-dinner party as well as ABC News talent chief Galen Gordon, Senator Amy Klobuchar, Governor Glenn Youngkin, and others.
If Democracy Dies in Darkness then Journalism Dies in Hypocrisy
On Thursday, May 5th, at least a dozen of people at CBS tested positive, according to the insider who requested to speak to us on condition of anonymity.
Washington press corps attended the dinner and got infected with the top news network executives, among many other guests.
On Thursday, May 5th, at least a dozen of people at CBS tested positive, according to the insider who requested to speak on condition of anonymity.
The Pavlovic Today understands that at the moment of writing this article, at least two network executives have tested positive for coronavirus after attending WHCA dinner. Why are they not saying anything? Why is no one doing the story? Long kiss goodbye to reporting on superspreader when media corporations are in the center of the story? If Democracy dies in Darkness then Journalism dies in Hypocrisy.
Wendy McMahon, Co-President of CBS News & Stations, George Cheeks, President and Chief Executive Officer, CBS, and Chief Content Officer, News and Sports, and Paramount+ and Neeraj Khemlani, Co-President of CBS News & Stations at the CBS News/POLITICO reception ahead of the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner at the Washington Hilton, in Washington, D.C., on April 30, 2022. Photo credit: Mary Kouw/CBS ©2022 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Sources familiar with the situation inside the TV networks say that they are getting information about who’s infected by word of mouth. “No one is gathering us. No official note that has been an outbreak. It should not be like that. All networks should put out a statement and say what they know,” said a White House news producer employed on one of the networks.
The Pavlovic Today understands that at the moment of writing this article, at least two network executives have tested positive for coronavirus after attending WHCA dinner.
This week, the White House journalists called each other, swapping notes on who’s infected. There are lists with names The Pavlovic Today was privy to. Some are big ones in the media industry, but unlike Jonathan Karl and Steve Herman, they did not raise their hand in public.
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One of the methods for discovering the new Covid cases after WHCA dinner is a shooting schedule. Many media employees did not show up at work after attending WHCA dinner, and their colleagues had to pull a double shift. All this is taking place in the news industry behind the curtain.
WHCA Dinner: The White House should ask TV networks to come clean
“No one is gathering us. No official note that has been an outbreak. It should not be like that. All networks should put out a statement and say what they know” said a White House news producer employed on one of the networks.
The White House doctor is doing a Round Robin on CBS and other TV networks early Friday morning.
The White House is the only one who would be able to get to the bottom line on the exact number of COVID cases across the networks that resulted from the WHCA dinner. They are the only ones who can request all the data from the networks and other news organizations and tell America what they know. After all, President Biden was placed at risk of getting COVID. As were the families and children of those who attended the basement event at the Hilton and got infected.
WHCA dinner/ Photo: Twitter/European Union Ambassador to the United States.> Many of us felt peer pressure to attend.
“This room is like a horror film. No exits. Literally getting trapped between tables. Fear of breathing near people, but people are everywhere. Creeping sense that you’re the only one who knows this is insane,” a WaPo journalist Yada Juan said while she was sitting inside the basement at Hilton. She got infected with COVID as the world watched her getting sick in a tweet.
“Many of us felt peer pressure to attend,” a journalist who attended the WHCA dinner told The Pavlovic Today.
It is unclear why anyone thought hosting an event in a basement with a rough estimate of 3000 people was a good idea? Did the number of tickets sold include the headcount of private security for the high-profile guests?
Finally, why did WHCA refuse to install devices that disinfect the air using ultraviolet light?
“You guys spent the last two years telling everyone the importance of wearing masks and avoiding large indoor gatherings. Then the second someone offers you a free dinner, you all turn into Joe Rogan. I mean, Dr. Fauci dropped out. That should have been a pretty big sign,” said Trevor Noah, and he was right. This was a bad decision.
