Solidarity, Finally

The press stands up for itself, together. Plus: A surrender to—not a settlement with—Paramount, and a great HBO crime doc.

In July, we gave a dart to the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) for forging ahead with its rescheduled annual dinner. The event, ostensibly a celebration of the First Amendment, ultimately took place weeks after the Trump administration subpoenaed New York Times journalists. “The WHCA represents the interests of the press,” I wrote at the time. “Its role is not to preserve access to the administration at all costs, but to use its collective power to ensure that the White House doesn’t decide what the American people deserve to know.”

This week, that collective power has finally been on display in a striking and heartening show of solidarity from the White House press corps. After President Trump banned CNN, MS Now, and Politico from the White House in a fit of pique, the WHCA was quick to issue a statement. “The Constitution protects the freedom of the press from government interference,” Jacqui Heinrich, a Fox News correspondent serving as the group’s president, wrote. “The WHCA stands in defense of our colleagues.” When the three booted outlets filed a lawsuit protesting their banishment, forty‑nine media organizations filed an amicus brief backing them.