I'm dry-heaving already sheesh.
Posted on 02/02/2006 9:00:22 PM PST by presidio9
With 57 years of White House reporting, Helen Thomas is commonly referred to as “The First Lady of the Press.” She talked to Adbusters associate editor Deborah Campbell about the state of journalism today.
Adbusters: You’ve had a front row seat on the White House press gallery since Kennedy, and now you’ve been moved to the back of the room . . .
Helen Thomas: Only for press conferences with Bush. He doesn’t want to call on me.
AB: What does that say about his view of the press?
HT: I’m reluctant to personalize it. No president likes the press, period. But Bush in particular wants to sanitize who he talks to. They give him a list of reporters to call on – which I’ve never seen done before – and he sticks to the script. He’s afraid of my questions. On the one hand it makes me laugh, but it’s also sad. A president of the United States ought to be able to handle any question. If they can’t, then why are they there? My requests are very simple. Usually it’s like “why?” Why did you do it? What’s it all about? If you’re putting people’s lives at risk, you should be able to answer questions like that.
AB: Do you think the US press is tough enough on monitoring the centers of power at this point?
HT: No, I think they fell down on the job. But I sense that they’re getting their sea legs, gradually coming out of their coma in light of the hurricane and Karl Rove and a few other things. So they might get back to being real reporters again. I think they’re beginning to realize they let too many opportunities pass, that it’s okay to get angry and to really challenge, which is their job. Reporters represent the last frontier in terms of questioning public officials. If we don’t do it, it doesn’t happen.
AB: Do you recall a time or a moment in history when journalism was more heroic than it has been in recent years?
HT: Every other time but this time. And it’s because of 9/11. People wanted to be more patriotic and were afraid of rocking the boat. From there, we segued into a war where reporters were worried about jeopardizing the troops. So there was a heavy cloud and reporters had to fall in line for awhile. But they’re coming out of it, thank goodness.
AB: What are some of the main obstacles to doing good journalism at the moment?
HT: Fear. Lack of courage. You want to keep your job. Maybe some corporate heads are breathing down your neck. You’ve got to feed the family and send the kids to college. There might be financial reasons and others, and maybe some reporters genuinely feel they shouldn’t raise uncomfortable questions at a time when patriotism is demanded. But our job is to find out the truth. That’s our only job.
AB: At the moment it seems there are some cracks in the US foreign policy. Do you speculate as to where any of that is going?
HT: Well, I think that we’ve got to pull the troops out of Iraq. We’ve got to stop killing. This is ridiculous. It’s more than ridiculous, it’s tragic. Wanton killing, killing and being killed – for what? I think the administration wants to hang in there because they actually believe they can win. But I think that’s a long shot, if anything. And what is winning anyway? Winning what? A Shia theocracy? Is that what American soldiers are dying for? Furthermore, we’ve got to find out what terrorism is really about, find out the root causes. I think that it was right to go into Afghanistan and right to go after Bin Laden. But what about the bigger picture? Is it a religious war? Is it American policy that is motivating these people? What is it? Figure that out, and deal with it.
That is actually an improvement.
You've onviously never attended a journalism class at any major university. Reporting the news is out, and has been out for decades. It was replaced by something called "Advocacy Journalism" which is, yep, you guessed it, telling you how, and most importantly what to think, aka "shaping public opinion", aka brainwashing...
the infowarrior
OK, enough with the pics. I'm dry-heaving already sheesh.
"The First Lady of the Press.”
I dunno about First Lady of The Press, but she certainly
is the First Lady of Ugly.
Heaven=our republican ladies of the press.
Hell=just one glimpse of Thomas, the gasbag
I'm dry-heaving already sheesh.
This post is disturbing.
Good Night...and Good Luck!!! (g CLooney)
has anyone ever noticed you never see Helen Thomas and Ernest Borgnine in the same room at the same time?
Strange....eh?
Whenever, I'm lying, my left eyebrow twitches up and down!
"Furthermore, we’ve got to find out what terrorism is really about, find out the root causes."
Aaah -- brains AND beauty.
HT: Fear. Lack of courage. You want to keep your job. Maybe some corporate heads are breathing down your neck. You’ve got to feed the family and send the kids to college. There might be financial reasons and others, and maybe some reporters genuinely feel they shouldn’t raise uncomfortable questions at a time when patriotism is demanded. But our job is to find out the truth. That’s our only job.
VRWCm: Lack of real journalists, which is probably the result of the kind of faculty that pervades all the schools of journalism. We have a bunch of editorial opinion writers parading as journalists. They wouldn't know how to actually research a story if it walked up and bit them in the @$$, so instead they just rant an spew their opinions all over the pages that are supposed to contain news reports. In fact, they are so stupid that they don't understand that when the Fat Lady of Journalism finally stopped calling herself a reporter and admitted that she is an opinion columnist it is only natural that she is in the back of the room rather than on the first row with those who are still pretending to be reporters. That is probably the biggest obstacle getting in the way of good journalism.
LOL!
Is that Raquel Welch or is it Ursella Andress from "Dr. No"?
The Prez is afraid of Helen Thomas? Probably more likely is that GW adheres to the philosophy of 'Never argue with an idiot...'
The president isn't afraid of your questions, Helen. He's afraid of your FACE! What sighted man wouldn't be?
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