1. What is a firsthand account?

2. Who is Weijia Jiang?

3. Ms Jiang was sitting next to President Trump at the dinner when the would-be assassin fired one of his weapons outside the ballroom and Secret Service agents sprang into action. She said she has covered many violent crimes in her career. How was this different?

4. How did President Trump initially react once he knew everyone was ok?

5. What shocked Ms Jiang about the president's statement about the entire group of journalists in attendance (many of whom were antagonistic toward him) at the press conference at the White House after the dinner was then cancelled?

6. Prior to the dinner, 250 former journalists and press associations signed a letter urging the White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA) to "forcefully demonstrate opposition to [what they claimed is] President Donald Trump's efforts to trample freedom of the press" during their annual dinner, citing his "systematic war" on the media.
Trump often calls out what at least half the country sees as biased reporting against anything he does. When he sees that reporting is not fair or accurate, he calls out the media and refers to some media outlets as "fake news."
The WHCA, led by Weijia Jiang, did not adopt the requested confrontational tone, instead responding that the dinner's purpose in gathering the president and journalists is to "remind us of what a free press means to this country."
Conservatives (Trump supporters) say reporting on Trump and conservative beliefs is unfair and biased and believe this is an intentional strategy to undermine his presidency and influence public opinion.

a) What do you think? Should the Correspondents' Association have taken the aggressive stance against the president requested by the 250 journalists? Do the journalists have a legitimate complaint against the president?

b) Does President Trump have a legitimate complaint against media bias? Do you think the media reports unfairly on President Trump? Do they report differently on Democratic presidents and politicians? Explain your answer.

c) Ask a parent the same questions.

7. Do you think in light of the attempted attack on the president and administration officials (and anyone who got in the attacker's way) the media in general will report on President Trump in a fairer way going forward? Explain your answer.