This year for some reason was the giddiest I've ever seen the press act publicly about this thing. (For all I know they always behave like fools in private over the stupid thing.) The fans of teen dream Justin Bieber --- who attended by the way --- actually behaved in a much more restrained manner.
This gathering has about as much to do with covering the American presidency as a beauty contest has to do with — well, let's just leave it as a beauty contest.Each year, the dinner, according to press coverage, seems to grow in size and glamour, flooded with beautiful and handsome Hollywood stars and television entertainers as guests of journalists, who have also grown to become stars, and news organizations. It is a testimonial to the celebrity culture that dominates much of Washington and New York journalism. (The New York Times, to its great credit, in my opinion, does not attend.) It is also, in my opinion, an embarrassment, just one more brick on the pile that buries confidence in the U.S. press.
The hot new face of American journalism and political reporting, Politico, posted 84 stories about the dinner by my last count. All of it great stuff, no doubt.