President Donald Trump attended his first White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner and used a speech lasting more than an hour to criticise journalists, media organisations and several public figures. His appearance matters because it marked a departure from his previous decision to boycott the event, while underlining his continuing adversarial relationship with the press.

Trump called the dinner the “largest group of Trump Derangement Syndrome people ever put together at one time” and accused the media of producing false stories. He claimed news outlets would struggle without him as a subject, said he had shifted away from traditional press towards TikTok, and joked that Paramount chief David Ellison could rename the event the “Trump White House Correspondents Dinner” next year. The dinner had been rescheduled after an earlier disruption involving an armed attacker.