Helen Thomas: Media purveyors of Administration's propaganda
Cox News Service sat down to interview Helen Thomas. The long-time White House Correspondent explained how the media has recently refused to do their job by asking the tough questions that every American wants to know about the real state of the union. She also discussed her new book -- -- which so far is getting excellent reviews. :
Q. Helen, this is your fourth book, and, unlike the others, this is not a memoir.
A. No, this is just sort of a critique — some might say an attack —on the White House press corps, the Pentagon press corps and so forthfor laying down on the job. I feel they gave up their one weapon, whichis skepticism, in the run-up to the war. And they had plenty, plentynotice that we were going to war — two years, in fact.
Q. Why did you write the book?
A. I wrote it because I was outraged at what I felt was a deafeningsilence when the reporters should have been asking "You want to go towar, why? Give us the proof."
I was outraged because I believe that we have a role to play. We arethe protectors, really, of getting truthful information to the people.(Instead,) we were purveyors of their propaganda in the run up to thewar, everything has proved to be untrue. How can you face that?Basically the president was saying, "We're going to war," and nobodyasked why.
Q. How do you want this book to be read?
A. I want it to be read as a message, mainly to my own profession,that they have a job to do and they have to let the chips fall wherethey may, that we didn't go into this field for a popularity contest,to be loved. We went in to make sure that the American people areinformed, because that's the only way you can have a democracy.
Q. Perhaps the key paragraph of your book comes in the foreword,where you write that "the media let the country down in failing toadhere to its gold standard — the search for truth."
A. I really believe that. You see, we don't have the British system,where a prime minister goes before the House of Commons and isaccountable. We're the only institution in our society — it isn't inthe Constitution, but we're indispensable — where a president has to bequestioned and held accountable.
Q. Do you think better journalism could have prevented this war?
A. There's nothing like public pressure on officialdom, to make themback off, go back to the drawing board, wonder whether they cansucceed. I honestly believe we could have prevented the war.
Q. I know you didn't cover the Truman administration. But at hislast press conference he talked about how vital it was for a free pressto have regular, open access to the president of the United States. Howwould you compare that kind of "buck stops here" approach to whatyou've seen with the Bush administration?
A. It doesn't happen here. And one of the things Truman said is thatthrough our questions he got the feedback in terms of what is happeningin the country and what they're thinking and so forth, because they arepretty isolated. You're not going to find that here. Everything issanitized and the president comes in with a list of reporters he'sgoing to call on.
Q. You say in your book that you quickly became persona non grata inthe Bush White House. How long did you go without being able to askBush a question directly?
A. It was like three years.
Q. I think most Americans would be stunned to learn that the dean ofthe White House press corps was not able to ask the president of theUnited States a question for that critical period of time. How did youfeel about that?
A. It isn't me. Anybody could have asked any of those questions.Believe me, I want the questions asked and it doesn't matter who asksthem.
Q. But you do bring a certain institutional knowledge to this beat, that very few people have.
A. None of these people knew Vietnam, a war we conducted in thewrong place, wrong time, 58,000 Americans dead and then we pull out byour fingertips, clinging to helicopters.
Q. Do you think there's a generation gap in the White House press corps?
A. I think it hurts when young reporters don't have anyinstitutional knowledge and don't know what's in the Bill of Rights orthe Constitution and don't know anything about history. ... If they hadremembered anything or known anything about Vietnam they would haveasked much more important questions. I just feel that the education isremiss.
Also, just in case you missed it, here is a clip from last week of
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