Fox News Chief National Correspondent Ed Henry has received the White House Correspondents Association's (WHCA) Merriman Smith Award for broadcast journalism, which honors Smith, the late UPI White House correspondent.
The award, which was given out at Saturday night's (April 27) WHCA dinner, was for Henry's interview with Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt, who resigned last summer following the interview and amidst an ethics scandal.
Pruitt was already in hot water over a variety of things when he sat down with Henry and Fox News, the latter which has gotten shout outs for its reporting from President Trump as recently as last week. The WHCA judges were certainly impressed with Henry's reporting.
"If [Pruitt] thought he was going to get softball questions, he soon learned otherwise," said the judges in their citation. "Henry, in the words of The Washington Post, lobbed question after question at Pruitt to ask him about big pay increases for cronies and a sweetheart deal for renting an apartment from a lobbyist. Pruitt struggled to answer and soon found himself out of a job."
They called it a penetrating interview by a reporter who was prepared and knew his facts. The award goes to White House reporting "under deadline pressure."
The President was not there to celebrate that journalistic excellence, skipping the dinner as he has in the past and instead holding a rally with a friendly crowd of supporters.
CNN got an honorable mention for its coverage of the confirmation hearing of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
