Recent hire Christiane Amanpour will be sitting with ABC News this Saturday at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. She joins her future ABC colleagues Diane Sawyer, Robin Roberts, Terry Moran, Cynthia McFadden, and Martin Bashir as well as George Stephanopoulos and his wife Ali Wentworth.
Here’s the list of the network’s VIP guests:
- Julie Bowen (Modern Family)
- Ty Burrell (Modern Family)
- JJ Abrams and his wife
- Elisabeth Shue and Davis Guggenheim
- Kathryn Bigelow, Director, “The Hurt Locker”
- Mark Boal, producer and screenwriter, “The Hurt Locker”
- Leon Panetta, CIA Director
- Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) and his wife
- Julianna Smoot, WH Social Secretary
- Peter Orszag, Director, OMB (and fiancé to ABC’s Bianna Golodryga)
- Tom Donilon, Deputy Director National Security Counsel
- Catherine Russell, Jill Biden’s Chief of Staff
- Michelle Rhee, Washington DC Schools Chancellor
- Kevin Johnson, Sacramento Mayor and former Phoenix Suns point guard
ABC News President David Westin will be hosting a reception prior to the dinner in honor of Jake Tapper who will receive the 2010 Merriman Smith Award later that night (Westin’s note to staff after the jump). Check out TVNewser and FishbowlDC over the weekend for updates on the festivities from Washington.
Jake Tapper will be honored at the annual White House Correspondents Association Dinner next weekend with the Merriman Smith Award for presidential coverage under deadline pressure in the print and broadcast categories. This award recognizes Jake for his 2009 reporting on Senator Tom Daschle’s tax problems that ultimately derailed his nomination to be Secretary of Health and Human Services. Jake’s tenacious coverage of the White House beat continues to distinguish ABC News, and I’m so pleased to see his work acknowledged by his peers.
Please join me in congratulating our colleagues on their outstanding achievements.