As is the case with the similar but more exclusive WHCA Dinner,[5] the attention given to the Association's activities are far outweighed by the focus on the dinner's guest list and pre-dinner receptions and post-dinner parties hosted by various media organizations.[5][6]
Also as is true of the WHCA Dinner and Gridiron Club Dinner, the RTCA Dinner has been subject to criticism that it encourages journalists to engage in undue coziness with the political officials they are supposed to fairly cover, and also that the public spectacle of "playing footsie" with reporters' main subjects is bringing the political press into disgrace.[7]
Notable RTCA dinners
In 1983, the RTCA compiled a videotape of various bloopers made in the news, and even music videos about the news, entitled "Tapes of Wrath". A sequel, "Tapes of Wrath II", followed in 1991. In 1995, President Bill Clinton delivered a speech at the dinner.[8] In 1996, speaker Don Imus made coarse jokes[9][10][11] about President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton, which White House Press Secretary Mike McCurry termed "tasteless".[12]
During the 2004 dinner, President [[George W. Bush mocked himself in a slideshow including images of him searching under furniture in the Oval Office for Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, which liberal commentator David Corn termed a "callous and arrogant display".[13]
In 2007, President George W. Bush attended the event for the third time,[3] and JibJab premiered its latest satiric animation, What We Call The News.[14][15] In 2009, president Barack Obama and humorist John Hodgman were the headline speakers at the dinner.[16] JibJab premiered its animated video "He's Barack Obama".[17][18]
1999: President Clinton attends just six weeks after his Senate Impeachment Trial. Jackie Judd wins award for reporting on Monica Lewinsky. Jim Mills of Fox News MC's the event.
2001: President Bush makes fun of his own grammar.[22]
^C-SPAN, 63rd Annual Radio and Television Correspondents' Association dinner, March 28, 2007, rtsp://video.c-span.org/project/iraq/e032807_RTVCdinner.rm