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Gadfly reporter Simon Ateba adamantly claimed on Sunday night that he’s the “only White House correspondent who is not allowed to attend” the White House Correspondents’ dinner later this month.
According to two people familiar with the situation, though, Ateba is peddling a patently false narrative.
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Ateba, whose notoriety has only grown thanks to his disruptive press briefing outbursts and accusations of “censorship” by the White House Correspondents Association, tweeted that WHCA president Tamara Keith and the board “won’t let me buy a ticket for doing my job.”
However, only news organizations with WHCA members are eligible to purchase tickets—the group’s main source of revenue. And as Ateba has recently acknowledged, his WHCA membership was rejected this year because he was unable to provide evidence he was employed by a legitimate news-gathering outlet. Ateba operates the site Today News Africa, appears to be its sole staffer, claims he makes “no salary,” and now touts himself as just “an influencer.”
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Sources further said that there have been far more ticket requests than seats available for this year’s dinner—leaving several actual WHCA members out in the cold as the event has been vastly oversold.
And despite Ateba’s assertion that the WHCA “won’t let me attend this year for doing my job,” sources pointed out that there’s nothing preventing another news org from inviting Ateba as their guest if they have an open seat.
Meanwhile, Ateba’s latest attempt to kick up dust comes as the White House looks to implement more stringent credentialing rules in order to curb briefing room chaos. The WHCA board declined to comment.
When reached for comment, Ateba posted an unhinged personal attack to Twitter and issued a vague threat via email: “You have been writing nonsense about me for sometime now. I wonder how much journalism you have done in your life. I’m not interested in commenting or reading anything you write. Just remember that as you continue to write nonsense about me, I will write about you one day. So continue.”
Thanks, Simon, we will!
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