Long a disgrace to American journalism, Helen Thomas is finally gone: According to The Hill:
The longtime White House reporter is stepping down after her controversial comments on Israel. Helen Thomas announced Monday that “she is retiring, effective immediately,” according to a statement from Hearst newspapers.
Her decision comes after her controversial remarks about Israel hit the blogosphere. She later apologized for her comments.
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Earlier, White House Correspondents Association President Ed Chen had noted:
Helen Thomas’ comments were indefensible and the White House Correspondents Association board firmly dissociates itself from them. Many in our profession who have known Helen for years were saddened by the comments, which were especially unfortunate in light of her role as a trail blazer on the White House beat.
We want to emphasize that the role of the WHCA is to represent the White House press corps in its dealings with the White House on coverage-related issues. We do not police the speech of our members or colleagues. We are not involved at all in issuing White House credentials, that is the purview of the White House itself. But the incident does revive the issue of whether it is appropriate for an opinion columnist to have a front row seat in the WH briefing room. That is an issue under the jurisdiction of this board. We are actively seeking input from our association members on this important matter, and we have scheduled a special meeting of the WHCA board on Thursday to decide on the seating issue.
That’s right — it wasn’t really the substance of Thomas’ remarks to a rabbi that prompted the WHCA to reconsider her exalted status — it was a question about the propriety of having an “opinion columnist” sitting in a front-row-center seat in the White House briefing room!
Thomas’ remarks didn’t come out of the blue — her views have been widely known for years. And yet, as Chen noted, she was protected by her “trail-blazing status” as a woman in the White House press corps, as if that should count for something substantive, instead of the quality of her work. But hey — it “fit the narrative.”
And the MSM wonders why the average American holds them in such contempt.
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