In response to a flurry of controversy over Helen Thomas’s recent statements on Israel, the veteran White House reporter resigned from her position today.
Her recent comments on Israel were met with strong criticism from White House reporters, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, as well as the White House Correspondents Association. The Anti-Defamation League issued a statement on Ms. Thomas’ comments yesterday, declaring that “Her suggestion that Israelis should go back to Poland and Germany is bigoted and shows a profound ignorance of history.”
Thomas responded to this criticism on her website with the statement, “I deeply regret my comments I made last week regarding the Israelis and the Palestinians. They do not reflect my heart-felt belief that peace will come to the Middle East only when all parties recognize the need for mutual respect and tolerance. May that day come soon.”
Reflecting on the announcement, our WMC President Jehmu Greene said the following:
While Thomas has apologized and resigned over regrettable comments, we honor her legendary service and look to the White House Press Corps to be even more inclusive of women in the future. Helen Thomas has spent her life serving as a trail-blazer for women in journalism. Helene Cooper (NYT), Savannah Guthrie (NBC), and Suzanne Malveaux (CNN) owe their currents seats to her shattering of the glass ceiling.
Ms. Thomas’s achieved groundbreaking milestones in the fight for gender justice in the White House Press Corps, having served as the first female officer of the National Press Club and the first female member and president of the White House Correspondents Association. She has maintained a strong presence in the White House press room for over 58 years, despite facing strong opposition and exclusion from the old boys club Press Corp.
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6 Comments
She’s almost 90, so it isn’t surprising that Helen Thomas is retiring. That she is retiring because of her own words, does surprise me. The words were harsh and she should not have said them, of course. Helen Thomas is a woman who has spent a lifetime thinking, speaking and writing. My own experiences with Helen Thomas have been nothing short of delightful. When I wrote Seen and Heard: The Women of Television News, she was my first choice as a foreword writer. I found her phone number in the Washington, D.C. phone book and knew I found the right “Helen Thomas” when her unmistakable voice on her answering machine prompted me to leave a message. I left her my best “nice, favor-asking voice” message inquiring about whether or not she would write a foreword for my book about television newswomen. A month went by with no response, so I followed-up and got the same answering machine message. I left the same, nice favor-asking message as I did before. A week later she called to say she’d be interested in reading the manuscript and if she likes what she reads, she would write the foreword. So I shipped her the pages and a month later, in her own handwriting she faxed a five-page foreword for the book. I trimmed it a bit, but it was what I wanted: the perspective of a woman who had worked in the media for a long time. She wrote: “These women of television news toughed it out and fortunately were driven enough to insist on equity.”
A year later, when Penn State Lehigh Valley needed a commencement speaker, she sprang to my mind. Again, the phone call, and this time a written letter follow-up and she was all ours. Her speech was brief, but it was gracious and inspiring. Her interactions with students, faculty and staff were also warm and fun. She was terrific.
Helen Thomas is stepping down. By anyone’s standards she has had a long and good run. She said of the women profiled in my book: “They had to prove themselves over and over again in a tough, demanding and sometimes merciless profession.” She ought to know. I take my hat off to Helen Thomas.
Nichola D. Gutgold is associate professor of communication arts and sciences at Penn State Lehigh Valley.
I would like to know Ms. Thomas’s Real last name – is she of Arabic desacent? How long has this attitude influenced what she wrote about, and her perspective on it? This brings into question believing anything one reads today – she is a clasic example of what has gone wrong in journalism – and I wish I could get this comment to her directly – her ego far exceeds her ability.
I would like to add – has anyone taken a look at the Lebanese attitude towards Jews? Perhaps if this country paid more attention to history and less to Melrose Place, people like Ms, Thomas would not be able to participate in journalism regarding the Middle East at all.
To pay homage to a woman who has revealed her true ignorance and bigotry is a disturbing precedent to set because it says that her gender is more important than her disgusting remarks – which are not only remarks but as the Anti-Defamation League correctly stated, shows an ignorance of history – as well as bigotry. That is something that goes far beyond a few sentences, and is much more important than whether she is a man or a woman. She not deserving of the praise, homage or respect of the women reading this or any other publication.
This woman’s remarks were not disgusting. They were not made on the white house press room floor. Anyone who knows the nature of history also knows that Germany and Poland were the countries that the Israeli Jews came from so what is the harm in saying go back there. In fact there are Jewish people going back to buy the great real estate of East Berlin. We hold Israel to a rarified stature. It is as if one can NOT ever say anything anti Israel. Well like it or not, there is a lot that need be said AGAINST the Israeli Government and State. Examine the reasons that we have built such an arsenal in the middle east in Israel and then think about the notion of disgust that everyone is so quick to jump to.
Helen Thomas had an extraordinary career of some 57 years. She should not be judged by one bad day or one dumb comment. Hers has been a career of integrity and courage.
http://www.nieman.harvard.edu/reportsitem.aspx?id=100453