app and play it. you have to visit the exhibitors. anchor: the house returns tomorrow from aanchor: the houss tomorrow from a two-week break. the agriculture department, sonny purdue. they will also try to advance a deputy attorney general nomination. you can watch this live on c-span 2. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2017] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, the agriculture department, sonny purdue. they will also try to advancewhs caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] on theer: tonight communicators, we recently attended the state of the net with twoe and spoke about issues with internet use today. >> we are concerned when countries try to shut off internet access or when they try to monitor the internet in a major way. that is not my concept of internet freedom. >> there is a lot of pressure

from the intermediaries, the facebooks, the googles, the suppress the communication of those who are pro-isis, so that is one of those fine lines that you have to draw in internet governance. watch tonight at 8:00 p.m. on c-span2, "the communicators." announcer: here is a look at our c-span schedule. at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span, former president barack obama discusses civic engagement and community engagement, his first public appearance since leaving office. attorney general jeff sessions speaks about workplace integrity and ethical standards, and then for-span3, the march science rally, marking the 47th .nniversary of earth day

on saturday, live coverage of this year's correspondents dinner, with the senior correspondent for "the daily show," and the announcement of several awards and college scholarships. president trump will not be attending this year's dinner, making him the first president to skip the event since ronald reagan in 1981, who was recovering from being shot. speaking with the president of the white house correspondents association about the dinner and the significant of the president's decision not to attend. here is more. host: the president of the white house correspondents association. end of oneen the administration and the start of a new administration. from your standpoint, what have been the biggest challenges? >> they are the biggest , and we started with the new trump administration.

think the biggest has been this adjustment. a new president comes into the white house with new priorities, and less experience, in this case, in dealing with the press, and new ideas. we have had significant tensions. that is not a surprise. we also developed a good working relationship with president trump's press team, on behalf of the press corps. there were certainly some battles that i did not expect to find, like the press moved out of the press room that was floated at the beginning, but we had a discussion about that, and we are still there, and the pool is flying on air force one, and that is all good things. west wing andthe the white house, why is it so important to be in that location? >> it is important to be there

just to be present when things happen at the white house. we are right there. if the president has a meeting with a foreign leader, we are right there. if there is something last minute where they need the press, and the press pool sees something, we are right there. being at the white house shows the transparency that is detected by the constitution, by the first amendment, i coming through the gates of the white house to shed light on what the administration is doing. protectedall things by the first amendment, and to be able to fulfill those responsibilities, the best way is to be in that press room, so close to where the president is doing his work. host: as you know, this situation between the press and the president is not new. mason: you are right. for decades, longer than that. that is an inherent part of the relationship. it is hard for me to compare

this to lots of other administrations where, myself, was not a correspondent. but this is partially driven by the fact that president trump has said in some of his tweets and public remarks critical things about the media, but it is our job to continue doing our job, regardless of the type of criticism that comes from the president of the united states, and despite that not insignificant tension. we have worked hard to develop a good working relationship with his team. of those tweets, "i will not be attending the white house correspondents dinner," from president trump. did not have a warning that that was coming. we knew that it was a possibility that the president to come, andnot the conversations i had with sean spicer about it was telling the date of the dinner, and, of

course, the president is invited to the dinner and would have been welcome. making the decision not to come, , but we willeak have the dinner, and that is why we are talking today. host: and we will be covering the dinner. why do you think he will not be showing up? mason: the reason he gave is because of the relationship between the press and the white house and president trump. they have not been covered to their liking. there are president's going back to george washington, as you said, who do not think their coverage had been to their liking, and that is just part of , really, when you are presidents of the united states. i understand that there are criticisms. and addressing mistakes when they make mistakes, but it is our job to provide robust and sometimes critical coverage of the white house and the president of the united states, and that is not connected to the dinner.

i think it is too bad the president decided not to come to the dinner for whatever reason, but as i said, we're going to have the dinner. we are going to highlight the firstance of the amendment at that dinner. host: one person said the biggest issue is not the president skipping the dinner but members of the presidential cabinet and the white house staff. he called that unprecedented. mr. mason: i think that is unprecedented. the only one they can speak to. signal thatends a is unfortunate to the american people, and as i said before, we have worked really hard to develop a constructive relationship with this white house, and that is something we could have showcased if they had come, but it is up to them to make that decision, and it is up to us to continue doing our job, and we will do that, and we will do that at the dinner, as well. at the700 people washington hilton.

how did that all come together with the headliner? mr. mason: it is a big production, again, to get that many people in the room and you have the entertainment plans, and i certainly had a lot of support for that. it is a privilege and also a lot of work as president of the correspondents association to be in charge of that. headliner, i was looking for someone who would not roast the president in absentia, and i thought i found someone who could do that very well. tot: you also said you want look for highlighting the amendment -- first amendment. how will you do that? mr. mason: we will have a banner on this stage. we will have it in our video

production and talking about it in our remarks. it will be mentioned, as well, that am very happy to say some will be there, who's worked for the washington post is a shining example of good journalism and the protections provided by the first amendment. host: presumably, at least three with president trump. how does the association move ahead in subsequent years? is a good that question, and that will be up to my predecessors. we have sent the signal that the president is welcome at our dinner. his staff is welcome at our dinner. even when there is tension to have a good and at least constructive, working relationship with staff and with the president himself. that is something we care about and are working towards. even as we continue to provide robust coverage of this white

house, as we would regardless of who is president of the united states, and that is what we will continue to do after the dinner and in years to come. jeff mason, the president of the correspondents association and with reuters. and on saturday, we will bring you live coverage of this year's white house correspondents dinner, with entertainment by the daily show correspondent and with college scholarships and awards. president trump will not be attending this year's inner, making him the first president to skip the event since ronald reagan in 1981, who was recovering after having been shot. c-span coverage starts saturday at 9:30 p.m. eastern. ♪