Patrick Gavin, the filmmaker and White House reporter who made a documentary critical of the White House Correspondents’ Association’s glitzy annual dinner, is looking for a new job: He wants to be the WHCA’s new executive director.
Gavin, who has dinged the organization in the past for letting the dinner eclipse its mission to help journalists and offer scholarships, posted a video pitching himself for the job. He likened the proposition to Chipotle’s hiring of a food-safety expert who had been critical of the burrito chain’s response to outbreaks of disease. (So in this analogy, the glamorous dinner = E. coli?)
“It might be, admittedly, a pride-swallowing thing for the association to hire probably its biggest critic — but that’s exactly why they should do it,” he argues.
The association’s current executive director, Julia Whiston, is retiring next year.
Hiring Gavin would be a money-saving move for the organization. Gavin said that he’d forgo half the $110,00-$150,000 salary and that the association could use the savings for more scholarships.
