Should Journalists Accept an Invitation to the State Dinner?

It happens at every State Dinner, but should folk like Christiane Amanpour and Thomas Friedman attend the State Dinner as guests when they cover the White House on a regular basis?

Full Guest list for tonight's dinner here:

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0111/47847.html

 

Yes.

 

Reminds me of being invited to those end-of-season team banquets for high school teams. (Okay, okay White House dinner vs. high school team banquet not exactly in the same league). But it's the same in that I covered that team on a regular basis.

Those were always the best assignments. Get a free meal and churn out a 12-inch snoozer.

 

I'm more concerned about the Jamie Dimons and his like on the guest list.
Michelle Kwan went dateless.

 

Is Jackie Chan there for security?

Who are they honoring at this State Dinner?

 

I'd go in a nanosecond no matter who is president, their politics or who the honored guest is for the evening.

Aside from the cool evening, it's business.

 

Under almost any circumstances, I would be thrilled to attend a State Dinner.

But, I wouldn't go to one honoring a Chinese dictator even if Michelle Kwan asked me to be her date.

Specifically though, if a reporter can't accept a ham sandwich from a coach they cover, why is it OK for a big time reporter to be a guest of the person they cover?

 

No hot dog, no story.

 

Do you mean that you can only cover the event if you attend?

I suppose that's true to a degree. And, I'd imagine each of the reporters present cleared their attendance with their bosses.

Still seems like a conflict to me.

 

Am I alone on this here? At my first two papers we used to always go to the team banquets. They would invite us and give us a free meal and we would do a little "feel good" write up that was watered down with quotes. It was shameless, sure. Did nobody else do this while covering podunk sports? (And not trying to compare this with a White House dinner but they are both examples of sucking up to the media, just in different spectrums).

 

It's networking.

If you were an entertainment reporter and were invited to the Oscars, would you stay home because Michael Moore was nominated?

 

Actually, isn't that exactly why they shouldn't attend a State Dinner.

A puff piece on the local football program is nice, but a puff piece in exchange for a WH dinner would be a big deal. And, isn't that what their hoping for?