Sunday's economy stories
How the WHCD became a celebrity affair
The issue:
The 2017 White House Correspondents' Association dinner will go on, despite President Trump, all White House staff, and many celebrities declining the invitation. It has evolved significantly over the years, so how did it originate?
The facts:
The WHCA was founded in 1914 after there were (false) rumors that President Woodrow Wilson was selecting a small group of reporters to attend his press briefings. The association held their first dinner in 1920, and four years later, President Calvin Coolidge attended.
The 1987 dinner had the first "celebrity" guest, according to the Washington Post, when Baltimore Sun correspondent Michael Kelly invited the beautiful administrative assistant Fawn Hall, who was involved in the Iran-Contra affair. This inspired a trend of inviting the most "newsworthy" or intriguing person whom reporters would want to talk about, making the dinner a Hollywood affair.
Why it matters:
Skeptics have said the event — where reporters party with government and are made celebrity-like — isn't journalistically kosher. For better or worse, it's become a tradition, which Trump has now broken... for this year, at least.
Fox in a box (update)
Competitors on the right are plotting to take advantage of the executive and talent shakeups at Fox News, which continued Monday with the departure of Bill Shine, longtime Roger Ailes consigliere.
What's happening: The profitable, influential, seemingly impregnable Fox News is suddenly vulnerable. In a massive disruption for right-wing media, Fox talent is on the market, the purge of the old-boy clique may continue, and there's huge internal paranoia about further lawsuits and revelations. On top of that, there are episodic pushes from the next generation of Murdoch leadership for changes in culture and personality.
These Twitter trends defined Trump's 100 days
The word "Trump" was used 67 million times on Twitter in the last 30 days, according to Talkwalker, a social media analytics company. That's more than 2 million "Trump" tweets per day.
The top 3 hashtags for tweets about his first 100 days: #100DaysofShame, #TheResistance and #UniteBlue. (#MAGA came in a close fourth.)
The most popular emoji used in tweets about Trump's presidency thus far: 🇺🇸 , 😂 and 🤔
The top emoji used on Twitter reacting to significant events:
- ⚡ — when Michael Flynn got fired (day 25)
- 🇺🇸 💥 🚨 — when Trump tweeted his wiretapping allegation (day 44)
- 😳 — when Trump didn't shake hands with German Chancellor Angela Merkel (day 57)
- 🤔 🙄 😂 — when Sean Spicer compared Bashar al-Assad to Hitler (day 82)
And here's how Trump used Twitter in his first 100 days, as compiled by Twitter:
His most retweeted tweet: Peaceful protests are a hallmark of our democracy. Even if I don't always agree, I recognize the rights of people to express their views. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 22, 2017
Top 5 tweeted words: Great America/American News/Media Jobs Today Top mentioned @handles @Whitehouse @NYTimes & @foxandfriends tie @FoxNews @VP @CNN & @ POTUS tie Most used hashtags #MAGA #AmericaFirst #ICYMI #USA #Obamacare