Transcripts For CSPAN Radio 20240705

Like. Cspan, powered by cable. The radio and Television Correspondents association hosted their annual dinner in washington dc, honoring journalist covering congress. Nbc. Its. Reid now whos gay gonna stand at that 10 minutes ago and whats up jay is that a psl, a Pumpkin Spice latte . S, i am drinking a Pumpkin Spice latte,nd its pretty good. Yeah, i am too. So, jared, why are you here . Well, im here for the artsy dinner. Its the tryouts to be th host. I mean, i think weve got our work cutut for us. Look at this list. I dont even know any of these people. Who the heck is tyler fisher . Man, i cant believe were holding tryouts. No, i didnt get this locked up. I mean, i had a few fires pop up i needed to put out, you know how it is . No, not really. Listen. Well, this whole tryouts and whoever does the best job will be the host. What can go wrong . I am jared moskowitz, and im here to audition for the arts aid dinner here that theyre looking for a host. And clearly, i have Nothing Better to do. I know youre a miami vice. Maybe we are going to get you on the miami vice steam. And i know youre very miami where i am. Okay. Is that is that an adult jacket . Because its not for us. Is from the Kids Department ten. Were going to have shoot. Were going to have a problem. Im on this island and diet. Its just plain nuts. Why cant you trust a politician or a ladder . Well,heyre always up to something. Whats a dentists favorite time . What . 230 . I havent. Aliens come down to washington. They say, obviously, because theres. Thereno intelligent life there. All right. Thank you all for coming. The committee has mada decision and the winner will have the honor of performing in front of the most prestigious journalists in washington. He was actually invited to the state dinner. Thats tonit. Tonight. Thats why the pm of austria didnt show up to try us. Can i sti drive the dadgum ferrari . Unfortunately, no. When noah rented thear, we put himself down as the only perso allowed to drive it. Now i blew the budget on transportation and so somehow ubers. Live from the anthem in washington dc. Its the 2023 radio and Television Correspondents Association Dinner and the awards show. Now, please welcome your host for the evening viral actor and stand up comedian tyler fisher. All right, thank you very much. How about the band, everybody. How about that video there . That bomb . Did anydy laughter in that video . Great. Im obviously a last minute replacement, but how are you guys doing . Thanks for coming out, huh . Thank you for coming to the 57th speaker of the house vote this month. Sorry. No, the 2023 radio and Television Correspondents Association Dinner. An awards round of applause. Everybody, for coming out. Were here to celebrate the free press on capitol hill and throughout america and honor the work you guys do every day. We appreciate it. We appreciate you guys dividing the couny the way you do. Its oh, i just got a quick note. Just a quick housekeeping thing in case the Sprinkler System goes off, please ignore it. Jamaal bowman is here and thats just a false alarm. So. All right. Yeah. Screw that guy, huh . Thats not cool. We did it in high school anyways. Oh, you know, were keeping with the theme here of finding a speaker of the house just like mike johnson. Body has any clue who the hell i am. And i look like a far right extremist. So you know what i mean . They could they couldnt even agree on a speaker. Thats how a divided we are, because everybodys so controversial. Every comedian i was not this isnt al franken was supposed be here. This was supposed to be his outfit. But you know, al franken, his hands were a lite busy because of the teddy thing. Im still remember that they were afraid to book him. Anybody could do al franke just, you know, be a little pretenous. Plug your nose. Really. Thatthis is all you have to do to do an al franken replied, i did grab that, teddy. I graze the teddy. So thats really easy to do. An al franken really . Is he here. Bewkward. We considered so many people. Like i said, was like the 25th choice. Dont expect mu. I wro jokes about 5 minutes ago. I think Rachel Maddow, they tried to get Rachel Maddow from msnbc to host. Shebasically a lesbian. Stephen colbert, right. You cant tell the difference. Shes funnier than him. But no, they booked me some guy you dont know who looks like zach galifianakis. Bang. Maulay culkin. Ors my girlfriend says, aaron paul bang,arry potter. Im tiny. Can you guys even see me . This is ridiculous. Can you see me at all . This is brutal. I make everything look huge. This is just a house car right here. This isnt even a real this is just an ipad up here. This is just some grass they picked off the stage. I know. Im 36. I look 36 from the front, from the back. I could be 12. You know, i am a pedophiles worst nightmare. Do you know what im saying . Ive caught 30 pedophiles since ive been in dc. You catch me, so i should be working for the Police Department catching pedophiles, right . My body is a booby trap. Just hang out in the playground. Just wait. You know, just. You know, just wait for some creep. They had a little boy. You want to come with me in my van to go . I dont know, mister. I dont think thats a good idea, mister. I. I thought maybe instead you want to come with me downtown. Gotcha. Gotcha. You didnt laugh at that. You are a pedophile. Cnn table horror. Gotcha. This is all set up. Youre on to catch a predator. Lock the door. Lock the door. All right, we got this guy. Hes got the pedophile glasses on to look at this guy right on the nose. You got a good look, pal, huh . Look at it. Can i try those on for a second . Look at this. You see this guy in the playground . Get your kids. Look, and i swear. Whoops. All right, all right. Clean those if you want to catch those pedophiles. Okay. There we go. You guys are like, this is a michael j. Fox rip off here with so many people. We we asked Mitch Mcconnell to do it, but he froze up. And i its you know, you know its bad when they pick a straight white guy with wrestling january six face i mean this is bottoof the barrel stuff i look like i stormed the capitol just to sell espresso sky the white guys back. This is bad. You guys are desperate, man. They actually is is true. They were going to have the very first mentally disabled black vegan host this year. But mayor eric adams was not available, so they had to. Hes at a nightclub getting Bottle Service too. True. Two on the nose. Thats fine. President biden was supposed to be here. Can we get a boo . He chose australia over. You guys can we get a bill . Oh, oh. Fox news in the back. Thank you. Sorry, dominion. Thank you. You know, its you know theres so many people not here. Theres a lot of courageous reporters in israel. Round of applause, right . Doing the lords work. Those obviously, you know, i dont think its controversial to say those tariffs, the tax were terrible or as cnn calls it, a mostly peaceful war. So. Dr. Fauci was supposed to be he, but hes busy planning the next global pandemic. So. Couldnt make it. One more fox person. Thanks a lot. Did you notice that war ended . I mean, the whole covid thing, it ended, right . Right. When ukraine was invaded. You guysnow that you stopped reporting on covid. It was like done the same day russia came in that was a little suspicious. I feel like if that war didnt happen, fauci would still be on the tv rht now. Youre like, dr. Fauci, its been three years. You said two weeks to flatten the curve. What i actually said was we are too weak to flatten the curve. Its not humanly possible. All right. Youre all sponsored by pfizer. Never mi. I know that wouldnt work. You guys have a lot of. I feel bad for the media. You guys have tons of competition right now. Your main competitor is teenagers on tiktok. Did you know that most people now trust tik tok to get their news . Theyre getting their news from a communist chinese app. Thats thats really sad. I like tik tok, but i think tik tok would have been a better name for a dating app for women in their late thirties. All right. Speaking of angry feminists, cnn is here. A round of applause to cnn right . We actually left 2000 seats empty on the balcony. Balcony there to commemorate cnn plus. So well just take a moment of silence. All right. I stopped. What was it was a tell a joke. Your entire news media organization. Its one big joke. Fake news, right . Fake news. We call it fakeews, but so sad, nasty cnn interrupting me. So sad, so sad. All right. Ill tell a joke. Whats your moms name now . I stopped watching cnn when they had that death ticker. You remember that . That was pretty cruel. You guys were for that death ticker every single day, that it was like checking the stock market. But a fun fact about the death ticker. If you actuallplay it in reverse, it shows cnns ratings in real time. So. Well, ive already been canceled as a comedian. So they made a big mistake booking me. You got guys ready start a show . We got a great show. You guys ready to start the show . The leg warmers are here right . We got cuban food at least the food is diverse. The chefs wont get canceled. We got cuban food from miami. We got florida stone crab. And the is going all night. Plus, we have a very special speed speaking guest. Later, a keynote speaker. I think youre going to like this guys actually funny and were going to do a quick word from our sponsor. That guys around the block for coming out. Thank you guys so much. Hi, everyone. Its senator Chuck Schumer. Anim really sorry i couldnt be there with you. My nearest and dearest friends, the Washington Press corps. Those of you who know Chuck Schumer know how much respect and admiration i have for journalists. Most importantly, schumer stories. But really the work you do is vital to our country and our democracy. Its the very bedrock on which is nation is built. We need this bedrock now more than ever before, the press informs it. Establish is truth from fiction. It keeps us and government in check. It is a guardrail for the country has been since the founding of theepublic, keeping us from swerving off the road. Were going over a cliff when the press tells the truth, when the press speaks truth to power, when the press does its job, our country is strong. So in this room, everyone, i salute you. The fact tt you, the free press, are always here gives me the solace that the greatness of our democrac even in these troubled times, will ultimately prevail. Have a drink for me tonight. Too many i need you all sharp. Inevitable press Conference Tomorrow morning. Please welcome representing cnn arts dinner chair noel gray. Good evening, everyone. Nice to see you all so clearly the article doesnt censor free speech and its a good thing im submitting my Resignation Letter this evening. So thanks all for coming. Welcome to the 2023 radio and Television Correspondents Association Dinner and awards. Its great to see everyone here tonight and to be back at the anthem again for another amazing event this year. Miami vice style as an homage to my hometn, miami, florida, a a lovable but messed up place. For those of you who dont know me, my name is noah graham, the dinner chair of this years event. And i had the pleasure of serving as chair of the arts last year, representing cnn, which is why i am this years dinner chair, even though i technically left news and cnn three weeks ago, a place ive called home and love for a very long time, and moved to the other side of news where i now represent dc fire and ems as their chief communications officer. But that doesnt mean that people on the other side cant celebrate a free press and honor some amazing journalists like were here to do tonight. So thank you, everybody, who responds for comment, who was also here tonight. I want to welcome you all and congratulate the winners. Thank our sponsors and introduce you all to the executive committee and our guests here this evening. Joining us on the dais from the executive committee is our host and actor who you just met. And comedian tyler fisher, whos supposed to be sitting next to Jerry Halperin over there. So before they poisoned your food, go have a seat next to eric and rtc chair Jared Halperin of fox news radio vice chair ryan nobles of nbc news. Were doing this live. We chang it up a little bit bad producing who else we have paul brown of cspan. Ben siegel of abc who came back for another session. Claudio gonzalez of npr and Nate Nathaniel Nathan Knepper of scripps news. Everybody knows nate. Not newsy anymore. Scripps news. Ladies and gentlemen, scripps news. Also joining us on the dais this evening, senate, radiotv gallery director mike masterson. House radiotv galleryirector olga ramirez. Kornacki. Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer. Press secretary greasy hanger. Senate minority leader Mitch Mcconnell. Broadcast Media Advisor kaylee grav bomb and House Minority leader, director of communications kristy stephenson. Is that everybody . Did i forget anybody now . Okay, good. Thank you. Id like to thank our sponsors for this evening. Scripps news who are helping us keep the bars open later tonight. Ridgewell is for bringing you the elevated menu without a higher cost. Thank you very much ridgewell for all your work and vsi ariel for that amazing and legal drone footage from inside. This is very tricky flight restricted zone and thank you to alex rosen and jeff ricker for that amazing cold open, which, by the way, for any miami vice fans was edited frame for frame. So the original miami vice intro and that is true and thank you to congressman burchett and moskowitz for your amazing comedic performance. My wife maybe cut out all the ufo references and that. So apologies to the disclosure supporters here tonight are oh were are we. Yes to my amazing wife kristen holmes. Thank you for putting up with me. Doing two jobs the past few weeks. I promise i will start cleaning the house again tomorrow and i know you will hold me accountable. We have a great show for you tonight. Tyler fisher of really funny guy and the legwarmers and unbelievable ball eighties cover band as well as dj ghost who will be spinning on the stage and then upstairs are happy hour excuse me our late night after party will go until 1 a. M. Tonight, but before we start, its a tradition. I dont have a drink. Can someone bring me a drink, please . It is a tradition for the Dinner Committee chair to oer a toast. Thank you, mark. Its to offer a toast to congress. So lets all raise our glass to the 118th congress. Democracy, as we have seen, is not always the easiest form of government, but our Congress Remains a shining example of giving the people government access to the bodies during the governing. I look no further than the scrums of microphones and cameras that surround the office of the speaker or many, many votes for speaker. The plaza outside the capitol, allowing the electorate to see not just what their government is dng or not doing, but also how its done. The process stories, if you will. So heres to the 118th congress. Y you continue to open your halls to microphones and camer and set an example for press freedom and to the men and women of the press. As my people say, look, i am thank you. You can keep the lights. Here to introduce the joan s baron award, please welcome back your host, tyler fisher. Thank you very much. The joan esperon award recogniz excellence in washington based congressional or political reporting in the past year. The award honors the memory of joan barone, a cbs producer known for her tenacity, detailed memory and relentless pursuit of answers from politicians. Thanks for not heckling me. During the memorial. Thank you, sir. Since i started speaking publicly, we told my crisis at that side during the war that i am doing this same. I spent almost 5 hours by phone. This group of people here in the capitol, not only myself, but my colleagues as well. The mere breach of the capitol by our citizens is incomprehensible to me. Here to present the 2022 boren award, please welcome longtime nbc journalist pete williams. Well, im delighted to be here to present this award to the winners thisear. My former colleagues from nbc, frank thorp and saraims of nbc news. This award honors their multimedia project, which was called faces of the instigation how the house january Six Committees final report came to be. And i think you find that their work provides an intimate account of the anguish and bravery demonstrated by some of ose who were caught up in the drama of the capitol riot and the historic congressional hearings that followed. At the heart of this project are some riveting photographs taken by your colleague frank thorp. These days. Obviously photographer can choose from hundreds of highly automated digital cameras that do just about everything, but press the shutter. But frank did not take the easy way out. He went decidedly old school, employing black and white sheets, film and a camera that was state of the art. In 1912, he developed the images himself, working in a darkroom that had about the same freedom of movement as a window seat in an Airline Economy class plane. But using that Old Fashioned combination required time and patience. The revealing and intimate results, though, are clearly worth it. There is a reason the National Gallery of art asked for one of franks january six photos for its permanent collection. They may be still photographs. They may be still photographs, but they are moving pictures. Sara combined those photos and the interviews that frank conducted to write eloquent descriptions of what those people experience and their work reveals the dignity and humanity of people caught up in the capitol riot and its aftermath. Nbc news considered it a sterling example of how the broadcast and digital teams can Work Together and obviously so did the judges. So its my pleasure to present the award to this years winner of the jones, chauncey steen barone award, frank thorp, and sara mills. Oh, my. Got to stand up for. Oh, you are standing. Sorry. Oh, man. Thank you so much. Over here with chris. First of all, thank you so much to pete. He literally helped install the darkroom at my house that i use to develop all the star feed for this piece. Youre myero. My journalistic guiding light, and someone i try to emulate every day. Your friendship and guidance led me to right here. Thank you. This piece would not exist if it were not for the people who trusted me to stick that 1948 film camera in their faces and then agreed to sit down and talk to me about one of the most traumatic, life altering experience they have ever encountered. Im particularly grateful to the officers who told their story for the piece, some literally sitting in the exact same place where they were assaulted while protecting the capitol. This piece became a confluence of two things im particularly passionate about telling stories in a visually different shading way and the belief that facing and processing trauma is incredibly important. We, as journalists cannot turn our backs on this sometimes traumatic events we are entrusted to cover, and we cannot also turn our backs on the need to do the work to admit how those affect those events, affect us. The time can hl many wounds, but as time passes, many try to paper over how deeply shocking and traumatic january six was, not only for the country, but for the people who experienced it firsthand. The journalism that we all do helps make sure the record reflects the reality. Its my hope. Thank you. Its my hope that this piece helps make sure the voices of those affected by the attack on the capitol and those who stepped up to describe the efforts to divert the 2020 Election Results remain prominent in the pages of history. Sarah mims, as pete said, wrote the words in this case turning hours of interviews into a cohesive and compelling narrative that beautifully accompanied the images. And amanda terkel and ginger gibson guided the piece to publication. The piece is the culmination of over seven months of work and would not have been possible without the vision and trust that both zaka arts and chelsea staff and the nbc news Photo Department had to create had to create such beautiful presentation and something very different than what we normally do at nbc. Thank you to Janelle Rodriguez and betsy hussey. Corona for taking very little convincing to make this video into into a video that theyd air and nick lerman for culling through hundreds of images and editing that video. His creativity and vision made this happen. I would not be here without we would not be here with if it were not for our health team at nbc news. Garrett hey, ry nobles, julie sirkin, olivia talley, rebecca kaplan, kyle ewart, kates angeles seahawks for scott lang and carrie dann, who leadss all along with Ted Strickland and chloe aaron spark. When i started on capitol hill in 2011, nbc only had four people on the hill. And as weve grown this team consistently crushes it every day, leading the pack and inspiring me to push myself and think outside the box and so grateful for you. I also want to give a special shout out to hayley talbot, who ran coverage for the january Six Committee for us back then. Shes now at cnn and who also shared her story for the piece. Im very grateful for you as well. Thank you. To the house and senate. To the house and senate, radio and Television Gallery for trying to keep us out of trouble, trying and the stills gallery for accommodating me with all my ridiculous cameras, my father and stepmother are here. You taught me to be the person journalist i am today. Im so lucky to have you in my life. And to halley, who is the best partner, the best mother to our child and the most supportive, encouraging cheerleader during thhours and hours and hours and hours and hours i spent in the dark rooms developing all this film, i am here because of you. I love you. And i also really like you. Thank you so much for this honor. I feel incredibly lucky to be able to tell these stories with such an Incredible Team during this historic times. And i hope pieces like this remind the American People that even with how divided this country was on january six, theres hope for a better future. Thank you. Here to present the david bloom award, please welcome davids daughters, christine and nicole bloom. Good evening, everyone. Its such an honor to be back again this year to present the david bloom award. Its hard to believe that its been 20 years since our dad, a correspondent for nbc news, passed away while covering the war in iraq and 23. This award, given in his memory, celebrates the exceptional enterprise and investigative reporting with particular eye towards journalism that is fresh, daring, or undertake can in difficult circumstances. The david bloom award takes on a renewed significa this evening, as we recognize in real time correspondents on the ground in the middle east, uaine and elsewhere. And course, tonight, our thoughts are with their families as well. These brave journalists and their crews are risking their lives to bring crucial information to the world and i think like everyone here, we are praying for a peaceful resolution and for the safe return of those currently being held hostage. As we mourn the countless innocent civilians lives already lost. Th years award is presented to a team of correspondents, anchors and producers at cnn who spent weeks on the ground covering the first days of the russian invasion of ukraine, bringing viewers live footage from belgorod keys, kharkiv and odessa odessa. I just had a big bang right here by hand. We shouldnt have done the live show here. There are big explosions taking place in kiev right now. Its just been a chaotic scene here. We are getting o as fast as we can. Your father being killed lik this, does it harden your resolve . Imagine what its like to live here. If wturn up, theres another salvo being fired right n. Destroy. It is extraordinary to see this level of destruction anywhere, lealone in a tiny village like this one. Russian forces shelled the buding where she was staying and she was she was wearing uniforms and shields. So many people being evacuated because this is the main train station here in libya. It is unbelievable. And most of these people, because its the final stop, they can get west. Is is the scene of one ofhe missile strikes this morning. You can see the Emergency Responders back here. But over here, a piece of the ground, the house iranian made site by the russians, just h devastating the size of these weapons is. Ite extraordinary. This missile struck right here. This city is crying as it mourns its war dead. They should do. They could do. I mean, they they can even put for them the life of the people and nothing. This is cnn. Its excepthe 2023 david bloom word on of cnn worldwide is chief National Security correspondent Alex Marquardt and anchor and chief National Security analyst and anchor jim shadow. Congratulations. Well, thank you, jim. Cant make it tonight. He is over in israel covering this war between israel and hamas. I just want to say thank you to, the blum daughters. This means a lot to me personally to accept an award with david blooms name on it. My first job out of college was at wnbc. I giving tours and one of the stops on the tour of 30 rock was a memorial to the journalists at nbc who had lost their lives. And right in the middle of it was the tribute to david bloom. And so we would stop. Five times a day with each tour to tell the story of david bloom and talk about his legacy and what he what he meant to nbc and to journalism. And when youre a young, aspiring foreign correspondent, to see that shot of bloom on the back of the blue mobile roaring through the desert and in iraq, i mean, that was it. That. Thats what you wanted to do. Davids producer here, the day that he died and while he was in iraq, was a young lebanese guy named paul nassar, who was still at nbc and who i spoke with today has become a very good friend of mine and when i mentioned that id be here tonight and accepting this award for our work in ukraine, he was telling me about david and he talked about his drive and his rigor. His competitor liveness, his empathy, and his desire to always be at the heart of the biggest and most important stories of the day. So to get this award that is named after him to it on behalf of all of us. That really does mean a lot when it comes to covering ukraine. My colleagues and i are i think, extremely proud of of the coverage that we have done from the first moments of the invasion. Some 20 months ago until right now. And it is, of course, one of the most extraordiry conflicts that i think any of us have seen on so many levels. And yet here we are these days, hardly talking about it because were watchg another extraordinary conflict erupt. And we are all bracing for what may come not just in israel and gaza and the west bank, but but beyond and in the greater middle east and amid the thousands of people who have been killed over the past two and a half weeks, there are more than 20 journalists, 24 to be exact, according to the committee, protect journalists. This is the deadliest stretch for journalists since the cpa has started keeping track back in 1982. And you can imagine that the community of conflict correspond is of conflict journalists is a very close one. You go through some incredibly difficult experiences togher, working very long hours. You spend weeks in the same hotels running into each other around the front lines, helping each other out when when anybody gets into a tough spot. So when a fellow correspondent or journalist gets hurt or killed or is impacted by the war that they are risking their lives toover, it really does hit home. And so id be remiss not to mention that today, while wearing a navy blue flak jacket with pressight across the front, we saw the Al Jazeera Arabic Bureau chief for gaza. While i do learn that he had lost his wife and his son and his daughtekilled, according to al and an israeli airstrike in a home that they had fled to to seek refuge, tnking that they were safe there. He learned about that, covering the very war that took their lives. The horrors that weve seen in the past two d a half weeks are just unimaginable, especially, of course, forhe people who have lived through them. And the journalists who are over there coveng them. But we, of course, have to keep covering theand we cannot we absolutely cannot stop covering the war in ukraine as well. Its 20 months since the invasion. I am still so proud of our cnn commitment to the story. The absolutely enormous resources that we have devoted to covering it. It takes a lot of money to get around that country to do it safely, to do it correctly. And i am, i cant overstate how thankful i am going into those situations with the support that we are given from the medical teams to the security teams, the tire lists and endlessly resourceful ukrainians, journalists who in our case and our key bureau is led by a woman named vika tanko. She just came through. Do you see . And many of my colleagues got to meet her. Wonderful, wonderful person. We have a crew of absolutely fearless journalists. Last time i was in ukraine. I worked with one named scott mcwhinney, who spent night after night on a balcony in odessa filming the russian missiles and drones just pummeling the city. Absolutely fearless. Id like to thank personally the producers who ive worked with in ukraine and sebastian gossett. First, of course, to hawk olga cornell over konovalov, over. Sorry, olga and maria observa. This terrific teammates all across the board. I cant say enough about the ukrainians who weve hired and we get to work with. So before i go, we have a quick video message from some of the faces who you will recognize, who have helped drive our ukraine coverage over these past 20 months and are now doing exact same thing in israel. Nicole and christine, thank you so much for this honor. They would be so proud of you both and of eva. And our thoughts are with all of you and with melanie on this night. And we accept ts. Were were very honored to accept it on behalf of all of our colleagues we were with in ukraine, and also our colleagues who are ukraine and also here who are making such great sacrifices to cover these important but horrible stories. And im sure i speak for everyone at cnn covering this conflict end in ukraine. And anybody, news media who covers these conflicts that someday the greatest, the david bloom award was given for Something Else because itd be wonderful if we didnt have to cover these godforsaken things anymore. Thank you so much. So thank you to the rca. Thanks, all of you. Really appreciate it. Here to present the 2022 jury thomson award. Please welcome cnn anchor and chief Political Correspondent dana bash, alongside cnn senior photojournalist and former chair jay mcmichael. Don johnson couldnt make it tonight, so lets zeroing in now. Heres your pesco. My its i didnt wear that by the way. Id like to propose another toast because that other one was not long enough for me. How about you guys. My arm is a little tired from that. I didnt know three nces of wine could. Piece of heavy. Were here to present the Jeremy Thompson award. The jerrthompson memorial award recognized his extraordinary careein photojournalism and production, focusing on the qualities and selfleness, mentorship and commitment to quality. This award honors the memory of Jerry Thompson, a longtime videographer, videographer for cnn known for his generous friendship, willingness to help others and consistently pushing above and beyonexpectations and those of us whoot to work with him miss him. Still, every single day. Jerry was an amazing colleague, not just to those ous at cnn, but to everyone he met. He was kind, thoughtful and humble, d he was a devoted parent. There cant be just one john bullard and. To mike tagg. Why would you want je . He has so many stories and they all last at least 20 minutes. We started at abc the exact same day in the exact same office. re like a were like a one ke one. Are you rolling . Was from the south. I was from the north. They made us. We barely understood what we said to each other. And they all start almost the same way. One word marker to tell you. Next tng you know, 2minutes later, i say, okay, all right. We got to. Yeah. Atlanta, 198 Peter Jennings and i were needed in mashed potatoes. John has done an incredible person call a friend for about seven years that ive been working with him. Hes someone who doesnt just do his job, but he gets tonow you along the way. I think thats a really importanpart of working at a place like nbc news. Always helpful. Any time. I think john was always i describe john bowl in three ways and the simon editors dream. He never says, you know, a partrs dream. Hell always share his big mac and a correspondence dream every stand up is a work of art. All i can think of when i think of john bullard is that he cares about the job that hes doing and everyo around him, more than anyone else ever havg. On september the 11th, i had an assignment, will rogers and i talked to john because i needed to know the layout. 4 minutes of the last and john texted me back from the text read. Im sorry that. I didnt get back to you sooner. Im in the hospital having a major heart attack. You got to text me or having a heart attack speaks volumes about how much he cares. John is he loves being a cameraman. Hes the only person i know who grew up dreaming about being a cameraman. So tonight we are presenting. The 2023 award, the Jerry Thompson award, to the one and only john ballard. Just real quick, before john speaks. John hasorked for practically every News Organization in this city, and he was one of cnns original employees. He also edited film. Thats right film in the seventies and high point, north carolina. So anyway, ladies and gentlemen, john butler. Oh, thank you. This is this got a little bit tougher. I just found out my daughters watching online. Id like to thank the rtc for choosing me to be the honored as the 11th recipient of the Jerry Thompson award. This to me, is like winning a third super bowl trophy. I was part of the emmy and murrow Award Winning team at nbc for january six, and now im receiving the thompson award for surviving the insanity of covering news inside these buildings. I met jerry in the mid eighties as he moved from local newand freelancing to cnn. Jerry, withis soft spoken demeanor, exuded a quiet confidence doing his job. He wanted to help everyone understand what goes on out here in the field. He believed inharing this knowledge, and i believe in it. To having interns and desk assistants join us in the field, helps them understand what goes on out and out here. Its knowing that russell rotunda, will rogers and cannon rotunda are not all in the same building. Theres a little bit of distance there. It also hopefully gives them better perspective in doing their jobs as a meal saver. Founder of Faber College once said knowledge is goo its about sharing this knowledge and information and helping others to do their jobs so we can do our jobs better. Im humbled to be mentioned in the same breath as jerry, melissa, george, eddy, kim. Peter. Dani. Request. Tony and eric. And as already heard in the video, Melissa Young and i were a crew for two years. I believe were the first crew that thats ever gotten the same award. I we have the best job in the world. Its were on the front porch of news every day. Its like to grad school and not have to write a thesis at the end of the term. And we get paid for it. Thats great. Right now, my thanks and my love to my daughter, miranda. Shes the reason why i continue to work. Shes sophomore at ole miss. Miranda, please graduate on time. Im not getting any younger. Thank you. In. Thank you. Thank you to nbc for allowing me to continue to practice my craft and to the nbc hill team for their guidance and support. I am proud to be as jarret hake once said, a visual and participatory, participatory. Thanyou for thisonor. Please welcome back your host, tyler fisher. I feel like im getting tinier every time i come up here. Benjamin buttoning. How about a round for anybody whos won so far . This is great. Like the cnn awards. All right. Up next, the career Achievement Award is awarded each year to an artsy a member for his or her or they or them. Its kind of bigoted to not include those pronouns. Im here, but thats what im here for, guys. Im from brooklyn to signify the accomplishments and contributions to the broadcast coverage on capitol hill. Take it away. The thing i love about jocko is that everyone loves him. Lets say there was an opening for speaker of the house. Everyone would vote for him because he gets along with everyone is jt the best. What else is tre to say from letting us in front of his camera on a moments notice to moments of cuteness, sharing pictures of his grandson . We love you every time i see you. You are always smiling. Such a professional, making sure that everything is perfectly. Obviously, i did this video myself as it is not up to your quality of work. Jack goes there. Dont worry. Thats what we say. Day in, daout at nbc. The senators are wired. You can hit m. And george in attitude our life and really try to work, particularly in germy and became a grandfather and just sort of might be the fir time i had same experience. So i met jocko in 1990 when i first started at cnn and he literally took me under his ng. I was a currie and he taught me how to do audio in the microwave, how to shoot, and were not for him. I wouldnt be standing here talking to today. The assignments. I remember the best were the many nights and overnights that jocko and i spent together at the pentagon during the first gulf war. Jocko, you are a washington stitution and as good of a person as you are a journalist. Whether we are sharing pictures or moonshine, which i hope we do more. I leave every interaction with you better than before, whether its the middle of the night during a shutdown january six or just another weekday live shot, jocko is unflappable. There is no oneoud rather see standing next to the camera than that man. And all i can say is from all of us at nbc news. Jocko, congratulations. We are so proud of you and thank you for everything you do day in, day out. Here to present the career Achievement Award for distinguished reporting on congress in 2022. Please welcome vermont senator bernie sanders. Let me congratulate jocko on this award. He deserves it. On a personal note, let me thank him very much for thmany times he has calmed me down. When nbc was. 20 minutes later than they said they would be in getting me on the air. And let me just thank him for his friendship over the years. He does a truly great job, and im glad that hes being acknowledged for it. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen. Chuck oreilly. Thank you to the executive committee for selecting me to get this honor. I was very surprised and deeply moved on. Those are three of you who know me, know im an introvert. So this is going to be a difficult task. Tonight, i thank you. Jpt chad. As i look on the. Hold on. Holdn. As i look out on the attendees tonigh on i see my colleague. I see my family i see my friends. Im i see the fabric of my life with you guys. Im a if i played a small part part in the furtherance of some of your careers. When i see you guys on the air, its like my little birds are leaving the nest and flourishing and flourishing. And you guys know, who you are. Look, it was my chat, okay . Okay. On before i was given the moniker of mayor of the russell rotunda. I earned my stripes covering Fast Breaking news domestically and around the world. I would like to share one more story with you. Um. We will travel pool in afghanistan. Well, hurrah. Everybody knows, as you saw on the video, ive never go with my hair uncovered. So its like a thing. So were in kabul. With 43, and were going for a photo op. And i heard you outside. We rushed into the room and get your pictures and they take you out. So im travel pool and we burst into the room present. 43 sitting here, the president of f skin sitting there, hamid karzai, jumps up out of his chair and goes, you, you, man, i reckon you screw up white house, welcome to afghanistan. And 43 is sitting here like you didnt give me stink eye. But its like, do lets go in. Oh, true story. Anyway, ill be brief. I want to thank you all. The committee. Thank my wife, whos been a backbone to all of this. Thank you all, guys. Sad baby. Oh, thank you. Thank you, maam so proud of you. Hes able to execute. Give Committee Member from abc news ben siegel. Hi. Good evening. Dinner is going to be served soon. By the way, coming out of the pandemic, the executive committee started thinking about what we could do to give back to the community and help the next generation of journalists. That process led us to Richard Wright Public Charter School in southeast d. C. The school is just a few blocks from the capitol and has a curriculum focused on media journalism and performing arts, with many students who go on to study journalism in college. Sky alley johnson is one of those students at Richard Wright. She was a Student Leadership ambassador, the lead anchor for the schools weekly newscast, and took part in the princeton summer journalism program. Shes now a sophomore in George Mason University honors college, majoring in journalism and forensics science. After college, she hopes to enter journalism and work to investigate issues in her community and keep people informed. Shes not able to was not able to make it here tonight, but we do have a group of Richard Wright students and faculty here with us at table 16. I dont know where table 16 is, but thank you. Thank you, guys. There you are. So the arts u. S. A. Was honored to award sky alley our first scholarship, and we are excited to work with Richard Wright once again this year on a partnership that will bring students up to the hill. For a closer look at our work and another scholarship which has been doubled this year thanks to the generosity of the Scripps Howard fund. Thank you all. And congratulations again to all the award winners. I got an idea. Why dont you wear something from the jim jordan collection . I will. So from the jim jordan collection, were done here we go. From the jim jordan collection is no. Fact. The whole collection doesnt make it. Yeah, they dont make them speaker either. Please welcome. Chair of the radio and television association, Jared Halpern of fox news radio. Thank you all for coming to the 2023 Radio Television Correspondents Association dinner. As you all know, this is washingtons most prestigious press corps dinner. If you dont count all the other press corps dinners. And i really appreciate everybody coming on such a slow newsweek. It was great that there was nothing more pressing happening in the capitol than i like a speaker vote or a state dinner. It has been, in all seriousness, as chairman of the Correspondents Association, a big honor to get to have this job. And so i wanted to take a few moments of personal privilege to say thank you to a lot of people. Thank you to the 4000 members who make up our association, the dca, a robust press corps that has worked tirelessly over the last many, many years. I want to thank the dedicated Public Servants in the press secretary corps and the other capitol hill communicators. I want to say thank you to the police officers. The sergeant at arms, the Dining Services staff, the doorkeeper, the custodial staff, the tour guides, and everyone who ensures the simply kee running safely. Smoothly and efficiently. I want to thank the members of congress and the senators who take time to talk with us to answer our questions and inform our reporting. Each of us fills different roles and its adversarial, but hopefullyts always respectful. Covering and working. The capitol, the white house, the state department, the pentagon, the campaign trail. It can be a lot. It was for me. Earlier this year, i actually took several weeks off to get some for Mental Health that would not have been possible without the support of my family. Thats actually my beautiful, intelligent wife, lacey. Who, by the way, is one othe members of the radio Correspondents Association. So thank you, sweetheart. This last years chairman also would not have been possible without the support of colleagues at my network, my fox family. Thank you so much. My family across the press corps and my time as chairman was of course, made much easier because of the executive Committee Members. You see up here with me tonight who spend hours sometimes at inconvenient, to advocate for access, pool setups, news conferences, all while doing their full time jobs. Our dinner chairman, noah gray, had the official toast. But if you have anything left in your glass, i actually didnt bring mine with me. Thats okay. I hope you will join me in saying thank you to noah. To paul, to ben, to nathaniel, claudia, our vice chair, and to be chair ryan nobles. Who brought me something that helps with. Appreciate it, buddy. I also want to thank our gallery directors, mike mastering and august warnock, a. So stick around. Not only do we have some inspiring award winners, but weve got a tremendous afterparty that will transport you. Im told back to 1980s miami with the help of the leg warmers and with that. Oh, thank you. This is why everybody wanted to speak. This is so much fun to hold. Its time for dinner to be served. Tim, i just want to say that when i think of ferrara testarossa, i think of you. I just want to say, gerard, when i think of ferrari testarossa, i think of me also. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome incoming rtc chair from nbc news ryan nobles. Hey hey. All right, all right. All right. If everybody could once again have a seat. I know that weve got everybody Milling Around and having fun and we promise we got a lot more from the leg warmers coming up. But we just want to reset for a little bit. And i want to thank everyone and thank our team that has worked so hard to make this dinner a reality. A real special thanks to our dinner chair, noah gray, who is leaving the profession after tonight. And as ive said to many people, as every noah project there, a lot of turbulence. But think we can all safely say that he lands the plane with brilliance. He did that again tonight. Thank you. No. I also want to thank our chair, Jared Halperin, whos been a terrific advocate for the rights of our colleagues on the hill during what has been an unprecedented and chaotic year. Jared, we are very lucky to have your leadership big hand for jared. And finally, i just want to say how honored i am to take over as chairman in the coming year. Serving on this committee has given me unique insight into the work of managing an aggressive press corps and balancing their needs with the concerns of those who work to keep the capitol safe. And this is important in the coming year or organization will work tirelessly to advocate for increased press access on capitol hill. In every room, the peoples business is being conduct did so should the eyes and ears of the american public. That is us. And that includes in the year of our lord 2024, pushing for Electronic Devices inside the chamber of the United States sete. We should have mentioned that to Chuck Schumer while he was here. We forgot. All right. And if you could all please give give your attention now it. I am pleased to introduce tonights who requires no introduction introduction. All right. Thank you. I didnt want to come back here. This is not how stand up works. You dont bomb and then come back on. But thats what were doing, man. The media knows how that feels. You know, were doing it. Thank you, guys, then. One more round of applause for everybody focoming out for everybody who won an award. This is this is a tough job. I ote this this morning. Its i found out it was terry who heckled abc. You already got ratted out out. Oh, this is the part where everybody doesnt just. Ok, this is good. I dont know how. Just jen psaki here. How do you do it . How did you handle it . She doesnt give a. This is good. All right. Very good. Do you guys like impression well switch it up a little bit. Yeah. You guys like it. Brett. Yeah, that was my impression of you guys when i asked if you liked impressions. Lets step it up a little bit here. Its good to be here, man. I live. I live in new york. Who lives in new york city or has lived in new york city before. Its great, man. Its its i think its more dangerous than than d. C. It really is. You ever been on the subway. This is good. This is like a diversity training meeting here. I think theyre like, lets the white guy tonight. Lets show them what it feels like. Lets talk about politic. How about that . Can we can we make some politicians . How about that . Yeah, we tell everybody, sit down and shut up. If i make fun of some old politicians, did we have a deal . No more press, no more cnn, no more fox. What do you got . I think we need an age cap on our politicians. Wh do you guys think about . That round of applause. If you think we need an age cap on the politicians. Have you ever watched the end of a congressional hearing . It looks like the walking man. Theyre just like, i know that word. And i know im not convinced. Pelosi didnt pass away nine years ago. Theyre just throwing on strings and bringing her out. Mitch mcconnell, that was tough. I think he did better than im doing right now when he had a stroke during his speech. To be honest, i think he got more laughs that im getting right now. Can we bring him up here . Thats how old people are. Get nobody even notice, man. Mitch, stop talking for 3 minutes. You know what i mean . He just wont. Everyones like, its okay. Mitch passes away every day for. 3 minutes. Thats just. Thats just how it goes. I got already. So im really just doing eight more minutes. Its while bidens not doing great. Can we agree on that . Can we talk about how old biden is . Joe biden could be the first president to be assassinated by ti. You told me to go soft. Thats not working. Im going hard. Whose cocaine was that in the white house . Does anybody know . Are you guys recording on that stuff . Does anybody know whose cocaine that was . Yours . Can i have some right now . I think it was joe bidens cocaine. I really do. Heres my theory, right . I think i think biden has his aides take the cocaine, sprinkle it into the scalps, little children, so he can walk right up the commercials where theres no father. Hes got you got to stop sending biden to disaster zones to give speeches, man. Thats not good. You see who sent whos responsible. Theres somebody sent them to hawaii to try to make these people feel better. You know, their house is burnt down. Hes like, look, folks. And i feel your is broke to a crisp. 1959 bert the popcorn on my stove not a joke i joke around here i joke around i love why i love watching biden give a speech. He always starts out yelling and then he whispers like the most important part of the speech. You know what i mean . Like, look, folks that younger brother act like better. Not a joke. First stop. Look folks, first were going to stop. Systematic racism, not a joke of it. Turn by 9,000,000,000 trillion. Jack, you son of a. You sure . Everybody said im going on here. Little sniffy for them. I dunno. I joke around which way my daughter. This is biden walking off. So its foolish right here. I dont. Where am i going . Shaking hands with goats while total opposite of trump though, right . Trump. Trump starts and then screams the end of his speech like a lunatic. If trump were here right now, theres probably. Excuse me. Excuse me. The fake news. Excuse me. Theres probably 5 Million People in here. But the fact is they wont report on it, right. We probably have 5 Million People in here, maybe 5 trillion people in here, but they wont report on it. Right. Thats what were doing. Trump starts out whispering and then screams the end of his speech, right . Like so we to save this great country. Excuse me. We have to save this great country because the radical left, you know, these people, right . The radical left, theyre rapists. Theyre murderers murderers. All right. This is on tv, right . Make sure this is going live on tv. You know what . I kind of miss george bush, right i think we should elect george bush again. Get him back. Id love to see george bush as president right now. Unbelievable. Imagine george having to list the sexuality acronym. We act like trumps the first crazy guy in. But we had an autistic cowboy running this country for eight years. George bush listing the sexuality acronym. That would be incredible, right . You know, i just want to say, i support everybody. Everybody within the l, j l j lj the yellow house. They act tvs the tv and jays. You support free press but not free speech about you. Listen up, you talk, suckers. Oh, there you go. Everybody in the closet like, how did he know . How did he know . Ill listen up now. All time president. Im doing 2 hours tonight, so. Whats up, buddy . This feels more like an escape room, man. How do we get out of here . They should just wheel Nancy Pelosis corpse out here and just go and do the show. New york . Yeah. What i did, i hurt your family. What did i do to you . What did i do to you . I kind of miss timey president s, man. Before we all divided, i just watched the documentary. Im just going to do it, and it doesnt matter if youre listening. Its not like i said. I just watch it. Anybody on it . There any single if i get laid tonight, this is well worth it. Anybody in the midgets here whos on tinder . Ill set radius to 100 feet. Ill find you right now, man. Ill find you. I just want to say sorry to my mom and dad. I did drop out of college to pursue standup, and i said i was going to have a successful career. Youre watching mom or dad . I apologize. I apologize. Well, you guys want, to hear some music. Well, im performing of them again. They p. How about we bring on the band, guys . What do you say . All right well, im going to go kill myself and were going to bring up some great eighties music. How about i want everybody to attention for the band, though . Okay, these guys are amazing. Are we bringing them up now. Does anybody have cocaine . Wheres Hunter Bidens people . Ure right here. Bring it up here. Im going to do a line. Ladies and gentlemen in where is is jen psaki here . How do you deal with this . Where is she . Were just going to interview people now. Thats it. How are you . How do you feel about my performance tonight . Well, it was definitely given you wrote this morning giving me what it was giving that you did write them this morning. Oh, thank you. And you work for what is it . What are your first msnbc correspondent anchor sorry, your name . Simon. Simon thank you. Simon yeah. We ever had to write a story the morning. Do you have people write for you . You used to do the writing and then what happened . This happened to you. You posted this like you need a writer and youre at cnn, msnbc. What . Honest, honest opinion. What do you think of fox news . The lovely people . Theyre lovely. Look at this unity. Im bringing everybody together here. Thats amazing. All right. Who else is here . Where do you guys work or do guys work . What do you do. Your dad and what brings you here tonight . My son, law. Your son won the award for what . The first award. Whats his name . Frank. It up for frank, everybody gave up for frank. All right, guys. Well, thats amazing. Do have a band . No. All right, im just going to finish this pie then. I didnt get to have any play, so i got two more minutes and im good. Im gointo stuff. Im going to. Who are you guysith tonight. Yre going to skip . What . Oh, which one . Oh, moskowitz, where the hell did you go . Oh, god. Unbelievable. And and hes a senator. Whats that. Hey, there he is. Hey, you got one joke for us, you know, any jokes . Give us one joke. Come on, it. Whos got one joke . Who wants to close this out of the joke . It could be a hacky joke. It could be anything. You got a joke . All right, there you go. Why the banker break up with his girlfriend . Why did the banker break up his girlfriend . He was losing interest. He was losing interest. Just like this crowd. Guys, enjoy the rest of the night. Well, i think we got a great. Is the after Party Upstairs . Yeah. And having a half of theeg warmers. Everybody let him here. Come the house and senate have recessed for the holidays and will be back in the new year for the 118th congress. The nate cvenes nuary and eouse juary 9 bo have upcoming budget deadlines to avoid a government shutdown, on january 19 and february 2. We are awaiting the other chamber to come forward wita number we can agree on. Senate leader mcconnell and i will fige out the best way to get this done quickly. Follow the progress when Congress Returns on the cspan network, cspan now, the free mobile video app, or anytime online at cspan. Org. Cspan, your unfiltered vieof government. If you ev miss any coverage , you can find it anytime on cspan. Org. Videos of arings, debates, and other events featurearkers that guide you to interesting and newsworthy highlights. These points of interest mkers appear on the right side of your screen when you hit play on select videos. This timeline tool gives an idea of what was debated in washington. Scroll through and spend aew minutes on cspans points of interest. Cspan is your unfiltered view of government, funded by these television comnies and more, including buckeye broadband. Buckeye broadband supports cspan as a publ service along with these other providers, giving you a front row seat to democracy. Coming up next, the milken institutes future of Health Summit featuring hhs secretary xavier bec