A prominent DC reporter called out himself and his peers in stunning fashion Saturday night at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. In an acceptance speech after receiving the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) award for excellence in coverage, Axios’s Alex Thompson sounded off about the press corps dropping the ball on coverage of President Joe Biden’s decline in the months preceding his derided performance in the June 2024 presidential debate. “President Biden’s decline and its coverup by the people around him is a reminder that every White House, regardless of party, is capable of deception,” Thompson said.

“But being truth tellers also means telling the truth about ourselves. We, myself included, missed a lot of this story. And some people trust us less because of it.

We bear some responsibility for faith in the media being at such lows.” The remark was met with a smattering of applause from the audience of mostly journalists at the Washington Hilton. Thompson — who co-authored a soon-to-be-released book with CNN’s Jake Tapper about the former president’s decline — went on to explain the importance of calling out the coverage of Biden for falling short. “I say this because acknowledging errors builds trust, and being defensive about them further erodes it,” Thompson said.

“We should have done better.” Despite what he deemed to be the failings of the press corps in covering Biden, Thompson went on to defend the Correspondents’ Association — as the organization has power wrested from it by President Donald Trump’s communications staff, which many critics believe to be a threat to an independent press. “I believe our mission is vital in a world where people are struggling to figure out what’s true, and people with power are not telling the truth,” Thompson said. “I also believe that this association has been, is, and will continue to be critical to that mission.” Watch above, via MSNBC.