Comedy & The First Amendment By Hank Silverberg It was painful to laugh this week. A few hundred journalists, politicians, White House staffers and friends got together this past weekend at the Washington Hilton for what is jokingly called the “nerd prom,” and formally called the White House Correspondents Association Dinner. It’s an annual event that raises money for scholarships for aspiring journalists, and hands out awards for some great work by reporters. It began in 1914 as a celebration of the First Amendment. I have been to a few of these during my years as a Washington reporter, and I can tell you they are sometimes fun, sometimes boring. It’s a good chance to network if you are job hunting, or socialize with people you normally compete against. You could tell which news organization is doing well financially by how many tables they reserve. For most of its existence, only Washington insiders knew