Journalist Anita Kumar has received the honour of becoming the first Indian-American to be elected to the board of the White House Correspondents Association (WHCA).
The WHCA is a more than a century-old apex body of journalists covering the US president and Kumar was elected unopposed to the board, reported news agency Press Trust of India.
Kumar has been covering the White House since 2012 and she currently works for the McClatchy group of newspapers.
"Last year, when I ran for the first time, and I ran for the president a few people encouraged me to run for the president of the body because they thought this would be such a statement to the Trump White House that somebody like me and a woman would be the (WHCA) president," she told PTI.
Touching upon the hurdles faced by journalists who cover the White House, Kumar said access to journalist is an issue.
"They (journalists) want more briefings. They want more on the record statements. They want more access to other people besides (the White House Press Secretary) Sarah Sanders. They want the press office people to return their emails. That's a big problem to get anyone to respond and answer any questions," she said.
Kumar was born and brought up in Charlottesville and she graduated from the University of Virginia. She has worked with the News and Advance in Lynchburg, Virginia and the News and Record in Greensboro, North Carolina, as well as St Petersburg Times, now known as The Tampa Bay Times.
