Following threats by some membership of the White House Correspondents\u2019 Association to boycott the group\u2019s 2017 Dinner, President Donald Trump has said that he would not be attending.<\/p>\n
Trump\u2019s decision came just as the frosty relations between him and the media worsened with some White House Correspondents shut out of a press briefing on Friday.<\/p>\n
\u201cI will not be attending the White House Correspondents\u2019 Association Dinner this year.<\/p>\n
\u201cPlease wish everyone well and have a great evening!\u201d Trump tweeted.<\/p>\n
The White House Correspondents\u2019 Association, in a statement, said it took note of the president\u2019s announcement and said the dinner would \u201ccontinue to be a celebration of the First Amendment and the important role played by an independent news media in a healthy republic\u201d.<\/p>\n
Every sitting president since 1924 has attended the correspondents\u2019 dinner at least once, according to reports.<\/p>\n
Former President Barack Obama attended eight times.<\/p>\n
Sitting Presidents traditionally make a light-hearted speech at the annual event.<\/p>\n
Trump has himself attended the dinner in 2011, and Obama had joked that Trump would turn the White House into a casino if he became president and made fun of rumours, then propagated by Trump, that Obama was not born in the U.S.<\/p>\n
Trump had said on Friday that in spite of his criticism of certain U.S. media organizations, he was not against the media , after several weeks of controversial statements about some sections.<\/p>\n
However, hours after, his office banned some major news outlet such as CNN, New York Times and Los Angeles Times from covering Friday\u2019s briefing at the White House.<\/p>\n
The action led some White House Correspondents to also boycott the press briefing in solidarity with their colleagues.<\/p>\n
The White House Correspondents\u2019 Association also threatened to challenge the action, which it said was an affront on the First Amendment.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not against the press. I don\u2019t mind bad stories if I deserve them. And I tell you, I love good stories, but we won\u2019t. I don\u2019t get too many of them.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are very dishonest people. In fact, in covering my comments, the dishonest media did not explain that I called the fake news the enemy of the people \u2013 the fake news.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey dropped off the word \u2018fake\u2019. And all of the sudden, the story became, the media is the enemy. They take the word \u2018fake\u2019 out, and now I\u2019m saying, oh, no, this is no good. But that\u2019s the way they are. So I\u2019m not against the media.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump, however, said there were very honourable media men writing very fair stories.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are some great reporters around. They\u2019re talented, they\u2019re as honest as the day is long. They\u2019re great.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump, who said most U.S. media got his election polls and subsequent polls about him wrongly, claimed that he loves the First Amendment.<\/p>\n
\u201cNobody loves it better than me. Nobody. I mean, who uses it more than I do?<\/p>\n
\u201cBut the First Amendment gives all of us \u2013 it gives it to me, it gives it to you, it gives all Americans, the right to speak our minds freely; It gives you the right and me the right to criticize fake news, and criticize it strongly\u201d.<\/p>\n
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