Trump Throws a Holiday Party for the Press. Awk-ward.<br />“Partying with a Trump administration that lies without shame and calls reporters the enemy of the people would just be pathetic.”<br />CNN declared that its employees would not attend Mr. Trump’s reception “in light of the president’s continued attacks on freedom of the press.”<br />But in the end, journalists from nearly every major television network and publication attended on Friday, including reporters for .<br />Journalists who had fretted about whether to pose for a photograph with Mr. Trump — a ritual<br />that can be awkward for reporters during any presidency — need not have worried: Mr. Trump skipped the usual photos.<br />In the past week, Mr. Trump derided NBC as “fake news practitioners,” proposed a contest to determine which television network was “the most dishonest, corrupt and/or distorted” (with the winner to receive a “FAKE NEWS TROPHY”)<br />and denounced CNN International, prompting Libyan and Egyptian officials to dispute the channel’s reporting.<br />“With every administration, not just this administration, we are looking for opportunities to interact<br />with folks in the White House,” said Christopher Isham, the Washington bureau chief for CBS News.
