US President Donald Trump has said that he would not attend the White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA) annual dinner, in a break from tradition.
"I will not be attending the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner this year," Trump announced on twitter yesterday.
"Please wish everyone well and have a great evening!", he said. In the past few days, Trump has accused the mainstream American media as real enemy of the country.
Said to be the most high profile annual event in Washington DC, the dinner has traditionally been attended by the US President and celebrities mainly from Hollywood. It was held for the first time in Washington DC in 1920.
This year's dinner has been scheduled for April 29.
Yesterday, several major news outlets including The New York Times, CNN and BBC were barred from attending an off-camera White House briefing, an unprecedented move that escalated tensions in the already fraught relationship between the Trump administration and the media.
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Meanwhile, the White House Correspondents' Association in a statement said the dinner would be held as scheduled on April 29.
"The WHCA takes note of President Donald Trump's announcement on Twitter that he does not plan to attend the dinner, which has been and will continue to be a celebration of the First Amendment and the important role played by an independent news media in a healthy republic," the WHCA president, Jeff Mason, said.
"We look forward to shining a spotlight at the dinner on some of the best political journalism of the past year and recognising the promising students who represent the next generation of our profession," said Mason, who is White House Correspondent for Reuters.
