Helen Thomas Takes Aim At The Washington Press Corps

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Watchdogs of Democracy? : The Waning Washington Press Corps and How It Has Failed the Public (Hardcover)
by Helen Thomas

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She's the most unlikely of journalistic heroines, an octogenarian born in Kentucky of Syrian parents. In 2003, the Busheviks -- like school teachers who couldn't stand having the kid smarter than they are being in front -- confined her to the back row during presidential press conferences.

You see, Helen Thomas has the feisty temerity to actually still be a journalist -- instead of a Stepford White House Press Corps stenographer -- and that burns up Karl Rove and George W. Bush. You can hear them damning her: "Who the Hell does she think she is, asking probing questions as if she's some kind of smarty pants? What does she care about the truth for, anyway?"

No, Helen Thomas is not going to go slowly into the night. You can even tell from the photo of her new book that she's one spunky reporter, when most of her peers are in retirement communities in Florida or Arizona. There she is in a pink trench coat and matching mod hat, reporter's notebook in hand. No, she's not ready to settle down to her sunset years playing shuffleboard. Helen Thomas is the White House Press Corps Diogenes and Tarzan all wrapped into one.

Nobody intimidates Helen in the White House briefing room that has been her working venue since the Kennedy Administration. She regularly takes on Bushevik PR mouthpieces (press secretaries) when other "reporters" are happy to reprint press releases and ask a few lapdog questions.

So now Thomas has a new book, "Watchdogs of Democracy: The Waning Washington Press Corps and How It Has Failed the Public." Obviously, the title alone isn't going to endear her to her younger "more realistic" careerist colleagues.

As the publisher notes of the book, "Here, the legendary journalist and bestselling author delivers a hard-hitting manifesto on the precipitous decline in the quality and ethics of political reportage -- and issues a clarion call for change. She is most emphatic about reporters' failure to adequately question President George W. Bush and White House spokesmen about the lead-up to the invasion of Iraq, and on subjects ranging from homeland security to the economy. This, she insists, was a dire lapse."

Like most BuzzFlash readers, Thomas is so outraged, she can barely contain herself. Here is a paragraph from Wikipedia.org:


In July 2005 Thomas was quoted in the newspaper The Hill [3] saying "The day Dick Cheney is going to run for president, I'll kill myself. All we need is another liar." Thomas added, "I think he'd like to run, but it would be a sad day for the country if he does." Several days later, Thomas expressed outrage at The Hill for publishing her comments. [4] In a November 2002 talk at MIT, Thomas revealed: "I censored myself for 50 years when I was a reporter. Now I wake up and ask myself, 'Who do I hate today?'" In January 2003 Thomas made an off-the-record comment to a reporter from the Torrance, California Daily Breeze following the Society of Professional Journalists annual awards banquet. "This is the worst President ever. He is the worst President in all of American history." The Breeze ran the quote.


Hey, this book deserves your attention. Helen Thomas is fighting a one-person trench war to maintain the standards of professional journalism, such as it used to exist. She needs reinforcements. Let's give her some.

About the Author

Helen Thomas is the dean of the White House press corps. The recipient of more than thirty honorary degrees, she was honored in 1998 with the inaugural Helen Thomas Lifetime Achievement Award, established by the White House Correspondents' Association. The author of "Thanks for the Memories, Mr. President"; "Front Row at the White House"; and "Dateline: White House," she lives in Washington, D.C., where she writes a syndicated column for "Hearst."

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