For those watching at home, the shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner was a sterling example of journalists springing into action, despite their fear about becoming targets of the gunman who wanted to assassinate President Trump.
But the hidden story from inside the room is the toll that the frightening episode took on the 2,000 assembled journalists and politicians.
The morning after the gunfire at the Washington Hilton, former NBC correspondent Dasha Burns made a pained — more than eight-minute — confession on Instagram. She was in the ballroom and scrambled to hide under a table.
“I don’t think a lot of us are mentally and emotionally ok. I’ll be honest. I’m not.” She spoke haltingly, saying, “This is the second time in the last two years of covering Trump that I’ve been at an active shooting scenario.”
Burns, who now works at Politico, said that the assassination attempt — seen on live TV — of President Trump during a 2024 campaign stop in Butler, Pennsylvania, “did a number” on her and her colleagues. And that those same colleagues were in the room with her during Saturday night’s attack. She added, having been through this more than once, it’s “devastating to think about.”
“Last night, boy, does something like that make you feel human and vulnerable.” She admitted she had a panic attack on the way to the dinner, thinking about the possibility of a terror attack. And “that thought is always in the back of my mind now.”
She wrapped up the video with a ten-second pause that ended with tears in her eyes. “I can’t help thinking that it could have been a lot worse.”
Now, skeptics will say journalists shouldn’t complain about having to do their jobs. Obviously, they haven’t had the traumatizing experience of hiding from a would-be assassin. And they did their jobs extremely well — mostly — fueled by adrenaline, broadcasting and posting through the middle of the night. But that takes a toll. It is now “the cost of doing business,” New York Times White House correspondent Peter Baker said on MS NOW.
One glaring mistake was made by CNN’s Kaitlan Collins. She said on air that the shooter was “confirmed dead.” She later corrected this, noting that Trump confirmed the suspect had been apprehended alive. It’s the kind of mistake made too often by less seasoned reporters that, sadly, happens in fast-moving, chaotic breaking news situations. She should have known better than to simply cite, as a source, security for Education Secretary Linda McMahon.
Others, like Wolf Blitzer — who was on his way to the bathroom and feet away from the shooter — said he thought he may have been in the line of fire. “All of a sudden I heard these loud… very scary gunshots right near me… next thing I knew… I was thrown to the ground and protected.”
He was so close to the action that he said, “I had no idea… who this shooter was aiming at.” And he said, “The first thing that went through my mind: is he trying to shoot me?” A reporter asked him how he could anchor after this. He simply said, “I’m a broadcast professional.”
Fox’s Peter Doocy said “it was really scary in there.” And he asked Trump, “Why does this keep happening to you?” The president, who remained calm at a briefing after the shooting, said those who do important things become a target.
Another Fox White House reporter, Jacqui Heinrich, remarked that Trump “held it together for all of us” during the emergency.
Fox anchor Bret Baier shared a firsthand account describing the “chaos” that unfolded in the ballroom. “I heard shots and everybody dove down… within seconds the entire place was filled with Secret Service guns drawn.” “As we were in the basement of the Washington Hilton as they’re clearing room to room, it was urgent… and they were telling us to run out of the building.”
Trey Yingst, Fox News Chief Foreign Correspondent, who returned from a war zone in Gaza only to encounter gunfire in Washington, told viewers: “It was a very tense moment. Some people were laying flat on the ground, others hiding under tables, shaking and crying.”
MS NOW host Stephanie Ruhle worked to debunk emerging conspiracy theories that the shooting was “staged” or a “false flag,” declaring that “what happened… was real.”
The claim, on both sides, that the Trump assassination attempt was “fake” isn’t just wrong — it undermines reality and the seriousness of political violence. What proof do they have? When people come forward with conspiracy theories, they dismiss a documented event with real victims and extensive evidence. They’re not being skeptical; they’re spreading misinformation that erodes trust in everything from journalism to public safety.
Disagreement about politics is one thing, but denying events outright crosses into something far more damaging, where facts no longer matter and accountability becomes impossible. People can speculate all they want, but it comes at a cost.
Former CNN anchor Brooke Baldwin posted an angry video. “What is so deeply disturbing to me this morning isn’t just what happened last night in Washington,” she said. Although she said it troubled her to watch friends and former colleagues ducking for cover in “tuxes and ballgowns.”
“People are saying this was staged. That they wanted this to happen… this is political violence. This is real. Whether you support this president or you can’t stand him, we cannot normalize assassination attempts on any American leader.”
I can relate to that fear and sense of panic. And the unbelievable spread of conspiracy theories surrounding the loss of almost 3,000 lives. On 9/11, I was broadcasting from one of the top floors of the USA Today high-rise in Rosslyn, Virginia. It was directly in the flight path of airplanes headed down the river to Washington Reagan Airport. There were reports that a hijacked plane was headed our way. We were terrified that it might slam into our building. In fact, the plane did fly by us and crashed into the Pentagon. We continued to broadcast for the next 12 hours. Our fear became part of the story.
It’s a rare case when press people become subject, storyteller, and potential victims at once. But it shouldn’t be the case.
Journalists are meant to bear witness to events, not be thrust into them — because when the line blurs, the reporting can sometimes blur with it.
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