Simon Ateba is Chief White House Correspondent for Today News Africa. Simon covers President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, the U.S. government, the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and other financial and international institutions in Washington D.C. and New York City.
Covering the White House is quite an experience. It’s a teamwork. No single media house or journalist can cover it. Many things are routine. The secret service monitors as you check yourself in using your White House hard pass and your pin number as your picture appears to the agents. Everything is scanned to ensure nothing dangerous gets in. You go in and say hi to the same people. It’s a small group of people and virtually everybody knows everybody.