Reuters gets another president in the White House

Reuters correspondent Jeff Mason (photo) was elected president of the White House Correspondents’ Association for the 2016-2017 season.

He will become the fifth Reuters correspondent to serve as president of the association, following in the footsteps of Ralph Harris, Larry McQuillan, Steve Holland and Caren Bohan, and will preside over the association’s annual dinner, a highlight of the Washington social and political scene, in the spring of 2017.

In a poll of journalists working at the White House, Mason beat Fox News producer Wes Barrett by a margin of 149 votes. He gained 172 votes to Barrett’s 23.

Mason has covered the White House for Reuters since 2009. He was the lead correspondent for President Barack Obama’s 2012 campaign and has been posted in Washington since 2008, when he covered the historic race between Obama, Hillary Clinton and John McCain.

He has also been posted in Frankfurt where he covered the airline industry and Brussels where he covered climate change and the European Union. He joined Reuters in 2000. ■