After 25 years working as a White House correspondent, April Ryan has seen it all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Before he became president, Barack Obama invited Ryan as a guest of his for a Congressional Black Caucus dinner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She covered Obama\u2019s two terms as president and wrote about more history when Kamala Harris became the first Black vice president and Ketanji Brown Jackson earned confirmation as the first African American female on the U.S. Supreme Court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ryan also joined a host of other journalists and minority women to draw the ire of former President Donald Trump, who infamously railed at the decorated journalist in 2018, calling her a loser.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAfter what I\u2019ve seen, no,\u201d Ryan remarked when asked whether anything surprises her anymore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI hope I don\u2019t have to be surprised anymore. I\u2019ve seen 25 years of ebb and flow, and, at the end of the day, it\u2019s about people and reporting for people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ryan noted that she once worked for a \u201cboutique\u201d news organization, and now she\u2019s achieved near unparalleled success at theGrio, where she opened up the news department and the White House Bureau.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Saturday, April 30, Byron Allen\u2019s Allen Media Group and theGrio honored Ryan for 25 years of distinguished and passionate service as a White House correspondent during a star-studded bash, \u201cA Seat at the Table: A Celebration of Black Media.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The bash took place at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture and immediately follows the White House Correspondents\u2019 Association (WHCA) Dinner at the Washington Hilton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ryan, a Baltimore native, and Morgan State University graduate, serves on the board of the WHCA, only the third African American in the organization\u2019s more than 100-year history to hold such a position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been 25 years, so what an honor,\u201d Ryan said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She added that the secret to her longevity is simply keeping her head down and doing the work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not about me. It\u2019s about the story,\u201d Ryan insisted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAlong the way, people found out about me, but if you\u2019re true to the story and telling all sides, that\u2019s where my longevity has been.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With fake news, misinformation, and social media wreaking havoc on traditional journalism, Ryan maintains that she\u2019s praying for a middle ground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere\u2019s always been opinion, but now the line is obscured more than ever, and there\u2019s misinformation,\u201d she asserted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cPeople are in need of facts. They don\u2019t need lies and entertainment. They need facts. We\u2019re in perilous times where the gas prices are higher than they\u2019ve ever been. We\u2019re looking at stores, and they can\u2019t keep stuff on the shelves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019re dealing with a pandemic, and we\u2019re watching one conflict on television when there are several around the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe World Food Organization says it can\u2019t meet the demand for food. We are in a crisis. It\u2019s a pandemic, and people are wearing masks, and then they\u2019re not wearing masks. We need facts, and I don\u2019t have the stomach for entertainment when the stakes are so high.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An honorary member of Delta Sigma Theta, Ryan has earned numerous journalism awards, including the 2019 Freedom of the Press Award from the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year, Ryan earned an NAACP Image Award nomination for Social Justice Impact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Backing up her often-professed love of her hometown, Ryan has served as a mentor to aspiring journalists, and she\u2019s assisted the development of up-and-coming broadcasters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She\u2019s authored \u201cThe Presidency in Black and White,\u201d \u201cAt Mama\u2019s Knee: Mothers and Race in Black and White,\u201d and \u201cUnder Fire: Reporting from the Front Lines of the Trump White House.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI watched history, and now I\u2019m scribing the first woman of color who identifies as Black as vice president,\u201d Ryan stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNow, I see someone who identifies closely to Thurgood Marshall, this amazing Black woman who is authentic in herself with her braids, beautiful brown hue, and voice that comes out of the wisdom of our ancestors and our culture and history.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ryan said she\u2019s also honored that the WHCA will honor Ethel Payne and Alice Dunagan, two Black Press alumni who blazed trails as White House reporters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI stand on their shoulders. So many of us stand on their shoulders,\u201d Ryan said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey are brave women, and I thank them because if it weren\u2019t for them, I wouldn\u2019t be in the room.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ryan counts daughters Ryan and Grace as her life\u2019s \u201cgreatest work.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m a Baltimorean. I grew up, and I\u2019m still here,\u201d Ryan declared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI can\u2019t leave, my family is here, and I know that there\u2019s this vibe here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She said Baltimore is primed for a comeback, much like the recent rise of Detroit, which had for decades been mired in problems that stemmed from local government mismanagement and other woes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBaltimore is a real community, and I\u2019m an HBCU baby who grew up on the campus of Morgan State, where my mother worked until she died,\u201d Ryan related.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMy heart is here, and I want to see Baltimore come back like Detroit. I see Morgan State\u2019s renaissance, and it\u2019s like a Phoenix \u2013 one of the most beautiful schools in the country, and it\u2019s in the heart of Baltimore City. Like Maya Angelou said and Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson repeated, \u2018and still I rise.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
After 25 years working as a White House correspondent, April Ryan has seen it all. Before he became president, Barack Obama invited Ryan as a guest of his for a Congressional Black Caucus dinner. She covered Obama\u2019s two terms as president and wrote about more history when Kamala Harris became the first Black vice president […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1627,1220,27,1338],"class_list":["post-2588","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-april-ryan","tag-congressional-black-caucus","tag-kamala-harris","tag-white-house","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2588","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2588"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2588\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2589,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2588\/revisions\/2589"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}