News/Commentary

Simon Ateba shut out of White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner: ‘Please kindly pray for me’

April 3, 2023 | | Print Article

The censorship of and discrimination against White House correspondent Simon Ateba by the Biden administration and its friendly media cohorts continues.

The Cameroon native has been denied access to the April 29th White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner at which President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris will be in attendance.

He is the only White House correspondent to receive such a shocking snub.

“I am the only White House correspondent who is not allowed to attend the White House Correspondents’ Association (@WHCA) Dinner with @JoeBiden and @KamalaHarris on April 29,” Ateba tweeted on Sunday.

Apparently, NPR correspondent and WHCA president Tamara Keith won’t let Ateba, who reports for Today News Africa, buy a ticket for the event.

“@tamarakeithNPR and her colleagues won’t let me buy a ticket for doing my job,” Ateba wrote. “Not that I care about the dinner, last year, they gave me the worst seat in the room. But it’s a way to get connected with colleagues in other publications. But now, unfortunately, they won’t let me attend this year for doing my job.”

ADVERTISEMENT

“I always loved the United States, and I still love it,” he continued. “Unfortunately, when you do your job, they gang up against you. They silence you. They sideline you and discriminate against you.”

“Please kindly pray for me for strengthen (sic) and courage,” Ateba asked his more than 260,000 Twitter followers.

Last month, Ateba announced that Keith had removed him from the WHCA.

“Today is a dark day for freedom of the press in the United States of America. The forces of evil who felt belittled have removed me from the White House Correspondents Association,” he tweeted on March 3rd. “The removal had the approval of one journalist called @tamarakeithNPR who is WHCA President and works for NPR funded by donors and taxpayers.”

ADVERTISEMENT

“They claimed that I do not have money and cannot be a member of WHCA,” he explained. “They also lied in their letter and did not follow their own membership guidelines. May God forgive them.”

As BizPac Review has reported, Ateba has been labeled a “disrupter” by his left-leaning colleagues, for standing up against White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and her refusal to take his questions.

After Keith gave him the boot last month, the press briefing room erupted in chaos after Ateba accused Jean-Pierre of “making a mockery of the First Amendment.”

“It’s been seven months,” Ateba told her as the cast of Ted Lasso” awkwardly looked on. “You’ve not called on me.”

ADVERTISEMENT

Even as Harris left for her weeklong, three-nation trip to Africa, the press sec skipped Ateba’s questions.

“I am being silenced. I am being sidelined. I’m being discriminated against,” Ateba told BizPac Review in a recent interview. “All because I try to ask questions. So, it’s like a retaliation. And I didn’t expect it in the U.S.”

“And I didn’t expect it, especially because, you know, right now the VP is in Africa,” he continued. “The first lady has just returned from Africa. President Biden is planning to go to Africa. The U.S. is trying to expand ties and strengthen ties between Africa and the U.S. And at a time when China is spreading disinformation and misinformation against the U.S. and also increasing their influence —China and Russia — building bridges, taking over, exploiting mineral resources. And here I am, just trying to strengthen those ties between U.S. and Africa with accurate and relevant information, but I’m being silenced because I’m just trying to do my job.”

As of last Monday’s press briefing following Harris’s departure, Jean-Pierre had yet to call on the “African guy” in the room.

ADVERTISEMENT

“Even yesterday, Monday,” Ateba said, “even as Vice President Harris is in Africa, the African guy covering the White House wasn’t even called on to ask a question on the trip.”

 

Melissa Fine
Latest posts by Melissa Fine (see all)

Comment

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.

Latest Articles