Columnist Helen Thomas, a trailblazer for women journalists and one of the few in the White House press corps who courageously questioned President Bush and other officials in his administration on war, torture and U.S. policy toward Israel, announced her retirement Monday. It comes in the wake of a controversy triggered by comments she made about Jews and Israel last week.
It is a sad ending to a legendary career. Thomas was the dean of the White House press corps and served for 57 67 years as a UPI correspondent and White House Bureau Chief, covering every president since John F. Kennedy. During the run-up to the Iraq war, Thomas was the only accredited White House correspondent with the guts to ask Bush the tough questions that define a free press.
In March 2006, Thomas wrote a piece for The Nation, "Lap Dogs of the Press" -- a scathing indictment of the country's leading print and broadcast media. She argued that the media could have saved lives if it had questioned the Bush administration's pronouncements. Instead, the media became, with a very few exceptions, an echo chamber for the White House. "Two of the nation's most prestigious newspapers," Thomas wrote, "The New York Times and The Washington Post, kept up a drumbeat for war with Iraq.... They accepted almost unquestioningly the bogus evidence of weapons of mass destruction, the dubious White House rationale that proved to be so costly on a human scale, not to mention a drain on the Treasury.... [And] both newspapers played into the hands of the administration."
Thomas opened many doors for women journalists; she was the first woman officer of the National Press Club after it opened its doors to women members, the first woman member and president of the White House Correspondents Association and the first woman member of the Gridiron club. In 1998, Thomas was honored by President Clinton as the first recipient of the Helen Thomas Lifetime Achievement Award. She will mark her 90th birthday on Aug. 4.
None of these prestigious firsts or awards protected Thomas from the firestorm that followed her remarks. Time columnist Joe Klein wrote that Thomas should be stripped of her privileged seat in the White House briefing room. Her remarks were offensive, but considering her journalistic moxie and courage over many decades -- in sharp contrast to the despicable deeds committed by so many littering the Washington political scene -- isn't there room for someone who made a mistake, apologized for it and wants to continue speaking truth to power and asking tough questions?
By Katrina vanden Heuvel
(Editor's note)
Those who have condemned Thomas for her remarks are nothing short of cowards who are afraid of their own shadows. Thomas has a right to question the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory and should be praised for her courage at a time when the tail is wagging the dog in Washington. I salute her and wish her the best, always.
