Dinner to Celebrate Free Speech-Expensive Ticket

As a retired journalist, I still get a jolt of trepidation watching regular TV programming, only to be interrupted by the heavy drums and bright red animation of a special report filling my screen. It happened Saturday night during Dateline. (I still don’t know whether that 15-year-old girl stabbed her mother to death or if it was her boyfriend.) The anchor, handling breaking news coverage from a safe studio, was speaking about the interruption of the Washington Correspondents Association Dinner. Her voice was shaky.  Shots had rang out with thousands of prominent journalists at a dinner with the full White House cabinet in attendance, plus our president and first lady. It was a serious and possibly deadly situation, and many important people—politicians and journalists—were in the line of fire.

Sitting on my couch, I offered a grateful prayer that I was not among them or in my former newsroom, trying to cover such an event. But more than that, I prayed for the people who were there, scrambling to make sense of the chaos such a shocking incident brings. They didn’t know whether to run, cower under a table, make a final call to their loved ones, or just pray for everyone’s safety. Yet nearly every journalist in attendance did the same thing—they locked into automatic coverage mode and began live reporting.

The early phone calls from the floor were garbled and hard to understand during each live hit. The connection was poor, and their own nervousness was likely a contributing factor. Secret Service and SWAT team members had converged on the massive room, surrounding every cabinet member and the president, leading them from the room to a safer location. It had to be terrifying for all in attendance, even those trying to steady their voices as they reported live via their phones.

Courtesy: ABC 7 Chicago

After a few moments, word spread that a would-be assassin had been tackled and apprehended. Some even reported he had been shot and killed, but that proved false. I was stunned that organizers were even considering restarting the event. What? A man carrying a shotgun, a revolver, and knives had nearly entered the space to kill our president, and we’re going to make sure we get to the funny speeches and food! Of course not. It was an absurd notion, quickly dismissed.

As a person who writes about a fictional journalist, I couldn’t help but picture Bekka in that crowded, chaotic ballroom. Would she be able to keep her wits? Keep the nerves in check?

Yes, the gunman wanted to kill President Trump, but it could have been anyone. He could have killed dozens of people before he was stopped, and that realization was not lost on those journalists. Saturday could have been their last report ever.

Courtesy: KABC

Once again, reporters are part of the news event, and it’s so awkward for us, right?  CBS's Weijia Jang was interviewed by Ed O’Keefe because she was the White House Correspondents’ Association chairperson and organized the event. She was on the dais with the president and crawled in her evening gown to safety. Her own family was in attendance when the shots were fired. After, you could hear the fear in her voice, but she remained poised and articulate—a complete pro. I can’t imagine the terror she was masking. It made me proud of her, of all of them. 

Something most people don’t know is that nearly every one of those journalists worked through the night to bring their audience the most accurate information available. I don’t miss those days. I don’t miss the overnights during breaking news when your body is running on coffee and adrenaline. But when I see others do it now, it makes me glad to see there are still journalists carrying the flag for the First Amendment. After all, that was the purpose of that Saturday night dinner—to celebrate free speech in America.  

Free, but not without cost.