White House Correspondents’ Association President Kelly O’Donnell On Why Press Access To Joe Biden Matters & What To Expect At This Year’s Dinner: Q&A
deadline.comAs this year’s president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, NBC News senior White House Kelly O’Donnell will preside over one of the biggest evenings in D.C. — a mix of politicos, media types and celebrities airing live across C-SPAN and other networks.
But the issues that a WHCA president routinely deals with range from the weighty, like pushing for media access to the president and promoting the role of journalists in a free society; to the less earth-shaking but still important, like coping with plumbing issues in the tight confines of the press area of the West Wing.
O’Donnell on Thursday marked 30 years with NBC News, a tenure that has included covering four presidential administrations, seven election cycles and numerous major events, including embedding with troops in Iraq.
She took a break this week to chat with Deadline about the dinner, the challenging times for many in the media, and the “direct correlation” between shouted questions at the president and limited access. DEADLINE: Do you have a preview at all of what you’re going to what you’re gonna say in your speech? KELLY O’DONNELL: My hope is that we can use this night overall to remind people about why a free press is so vitally important, especially in a campaign year.
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