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White House Correspondents' Association scholarship recipients relive terrifying dinner 36%
7/25/2026, 12:32:17 AM
BS Summary: This video contains 23 faulty reasoning types, including Availability Heuristic, Hasty Generalization, and Anecdotal, with Appeal to Emotion as the most egregious example at 52.5% saturation with 481 hits. Analysis detected 2,078 faulty-reasoning hits from 917 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 43.2% and a BS Rank of 36% (14,010 of 21,886 videos). This video is better (less manipulative) than 64.00% of the video peer group.
Tonight's rescheduled White House
Correspondents Dinner will honor recipients of the White House
Correspondents Association Scholarship Program.
This year the association awarded $156,000
to 30 college students.
In May, six days after the shooting, Lindsey Reiser spoke with Caitlin Bender Thomas and Madison Maynard,
two of those recipients who were there at the original dinner and when those shots rang out at the Washington Hilton.
>> And then all of a sudden I heard everybody say, you know, everybody get down, everybody get down. So I remember rushing to to get down.
I remember hearing the sound of gunfire in the distance.
>> I heard commotion, looked behind me, saw people barging into the ballroom and screaming get down, get down, drop to the floor.
>> And I want to welcome Caitlin and Madison back to the program tonight.
Caitlin is a student at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism
and Madison attends Howard University studying broadcast journalism.
Welcome back to both of you. So good to see you.
Caitlin, I know you were in the room when that shooting took place that night.
How are you feeling going into tonight?
>> [snorts]
>> Yeah, so definitely a little bit nervous because going into the dinner back in April I didn't have any concerns about security and you know, we all saw what happened that night.
So definitely a little nervous but also optimistic and hopeful that tonight will be what it was always intended to be, you know, a a celebratory night and exciting.
>> And Madison, same question to you. Have you really processed what happened that time?
>> I think that took me a while to process it but I think I have and now I'm going into tonight very excited to be in the room with all of the journalists that I have admired for so many years. I'm also of course excited to reconnect with my fellow scholars.
So I'm excited going into the night and I think I have had a few months to process everything that happened in April to really look forward to tonight.
>> And Kaitlyn, you know, you said that the shooting at the White House
Correspondents' Dinner actually emphasized the importance of journalism.
Can you explain why?
>> Yeah, um you know, honestly, the the dinner, it really just showcased the importance of journalists. Like in that moment when all of it happened, I mean, you saw all the journalists like jump into action to try to cover it. And so, for me, it just really reinforced the importance of journalism, the importance of um informing um our people and getting information to them. So, um I think it was really symbolic of that in a way.
>> And Madison, I also just want to ask whether you guys have got the award yet,
what the scholarship really means to you both.
>> Yeah, so finally tonight, we will be awarded our scholarship.
So, I'm incredibly excited.
We didn't have the opportunity to do so in April since the night ended early.
And this means a lot to me. I've wanted to be a political journalist since I was around 13 years old.
So, to be celebrated tonight for my achievements in college and for my achievements for so long, really means the world to me.
And I just I'm so thankful for Howard University Cathy Hughes School of Communications for thinking of me to accept the scholarship.
And I'm thankful for the White House Correspondents Association.
>> And Kaitlyn, you know, you'd mentioned seeing those journalists in the room that night leap into action during what became a newsworthy moment.
Um was there anything that you learned from watching those journalists work that night?
>> Yeah, um really just the importance of delivering accurate information.
In that moment after what happened, there was a lot that journalists didn't know.
So, you know, it just really emphasized the importance of, you know, communicating to people our audience what we do know, um and not, you know, speculating.
It's just waiting until we have all the facts. That's It's important, especially um in these times of disinformation, misinformation going around.
>> Mm.
>> as a journalist, I can tell you both that it's not often that you are in the middle of the story, that you sometimes become the story.
Madison, how are you feeling about getting in into the industry?
>> I'm excited to be in the industry.
I have always known that there are some dangers when it comes to being a journalist.
I mean, there were some journalists that survived the shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania, the first attempt on President Trump's life.
So, there's always dangers to being a journalist.
I think that the correspondence there April kind of showed that to me front and center, but
I'm incredibly excited to be a political journalist.
I actually have a podcast I started this summer.
I'm doing communications work for a political campaign.
So, this summer I'm really immersed in journalism and political communications, and heading into my senior year at Howard, I'm really excited to enter the workforce, for sure.
>> Well, congratulations to both of you.
I'm so incredibly excited for you.
Can't wait to see what's next in your career.
Thank you so much for making time to catch up with us, and have a great time tonight.
>> Thank you so much.
Analysis
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