Meeting celebrates freedom of expression and brings together US president and reporters who monitor daily news from the White House
Saturday’s dinner (April 25, 2026) between journalists and the President of the United States, Donald Trump, was organized by (“White House Correspondents Association”). The most correct way to translate the name of this private entity is “Association of Journalists who Cover the White House”. And that “correspondent”in English, cannot be translated as “correspondent” in Portuguese. False cognates are: words that etymologically have a common origin, almost identical spellings, but that evolved differently in certain languages.
In the USA, a journalist who works in a specific sector to follow a news issue is called a journalist. “correspondent”. In this way, there are “White House correspondents”os “Pentagon correspondents”os “Supreme Court correspondents”.
In Portuguese, the word “correspondent” is used when a journalist works in another city, state or country other than where the outlet he represents is headquartered. For example, the Poder360 has a formally hired professional who sends news from Beijing, China. He is the correspondent in Beijing, whose reports are generally published in the editorial section.
In Brazilian journalism jargon, the professional who works as a reporter at the Palácio do Planalto, the Ministry of Finance, the Central Bank or the Palácio dos Bandeirantes is called a “Planalto sectorist”, “Finance sectorist”, “Central Bank sectorist” or “sector of Palácio dos Bandeirantes”.
In the case of “White House Correspondents Association”journalists who work at the White House can join. According to the group, around 900 individual journalists and 300 media outlets.
The WHCA was created by journalists on February 25, 1914, in response to a statement by then US President Woodrow Wilson, who in 1913 said he could end the tradition of participating in interviews for journalists, as “certain afternoon newspapers” (without saying which ones) they would be publishing phrases that he considered to have given privately.
The 1st Annual WHCA Dinner was held on May 7, 1921 at the Arlington Hotel on the corner of Vermont Avenue and L Street in Washington. The then US president, Warren G. Harding, did not attend the event. The first North American president to attend the dinner was Calvin Coolidge, in 1924.
Over the years, the WHCA’s annual dinner has become a tradition in the American political world, in the nation’s capital. The event location changes from time to time. It’s always an opportunity for the country’s president to speak in a more relaxed way, listen and tell jokes.
These opportunities are seen as a celebration of freedom of expression, one of the most popular rights in the country and enshrined in 1791 by the , which prevents Congress from creating laws that limit freedom of speech, press, assembly, religion and petitioning the government.
In addition to the Chief Executive, the WHCA annual meeting had an increasingly expanded guest list. Many members of the government team participate, as well as politicians from the 2 most relevant parties in the USA, the Democrat and the Republican.
Donald Trump had never participated in these dinners in his 1st term (2017-2021) and, on Saturday, April 25, 2026, he would make his 1st speech to the White House sectorists as the country’s chief executive.
