Simon Ateba

Simon Ateba (born ) is a Cameroonian journalist. He is the owner and sole employee of the website Today News Africa, for which he was a White House correspondent. . His father worked as a fish trader.

Career Nigeria Ateba moved to Nigeria, where he worked at P.M. News and for nine years at The NEWS magazine. He was attacked by a mob in 2009 while working on an assignment at a church in Lagos. Ateba's arrest and detention were condemned by the Cameroon Journalism Trade Union. The video had been digitally altered to superimpose Zelenskyy's face onto the body of Argentine belly dancer Pablo Acosta.

In February 2024, Ateba claimed that Russia had prevented a Ukrainian assassination attempt on Tucker Carlson. Voice of America traced the source of the claim to a YouTube video that was cited by The Intel Drop, a website that BBC journalist Shayan Sardarizadeh characterized as "a notorious pro-Kremlin disinformation website with a long history of fabricating stories aimed to disparage Ukraine."

In April 2024, Ateba was included as one of the defendants in a defamation lawsuit by a man who was falsely identified as the perpetrator of the 2023 Allen, Texas mall shooting, alongside others such as Fox News, Newsmax and InfoWars personality Owen Shroyer. The man alleged the defendants had "recklessly disregarded basic journalistic safeguards and published the photo of an innocent man, branding him as a neo-Nazi murderer to his local community and the nation at large." In the same month, Ateba posted a video of President Joe Biden that had been altered to include audio of people shouting expletives; Ateba subsequently deleted the tweet.

White House correspondent During Ateba's time as a White House correspondent, he became known for interrupting press briefings, being out of process, and complaining about not being called on to ask questions. He accused White House officials of discrimination. In December 2021, Ateba questioned Jen Psaki about the Omicron-linked travel ban President Biden imposed on eight African nations. In December 2022, Ateba had a tense exchange with Karine Jean-Pierre at the White House, in which he accused her of discrimination. Ateba said that Jean-Pierre had discriminated against him by not calling on him during her seven-month tenure as White House Press Secretary.

In April 2023, Ateba falsely claimed he was banned from the White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA) dinner. Only news organizations that employ WHCA members are allowed to buy tickets to the dinner. Ateba was unable to provide evidence he was employed by a legitimate news organization; Ateba tweeted out the phone number of WHCA president Tamara Keith, who had complained about his behavior; he later deleted the tweets. After the new policy on White House hard passes took effect on July 31, 2023, Ateba filed a lawsuit against Karine Jean-Pierre, contending that his inability to obtain press credentials amounted to discrimination. His case was dismissed in district court.