There is something to be said for tradition. Apparently Fox and CNN will kick Helen Thomas to the curb without even blinking. To replace Helen with Fox News reporters apologists is almost a crime. CNN, you would expect, would have more class.
The woman is an icon for goodness sakes!
Every theater-style seat in the White House briefing room, now closed for renovation, had a brass plaque inscribed with the name of a news organization. Only one, in the middle of the front row, had a name: “HELEN THOMAS,” it said. The unique assigned seat between the chairs for CBS News and ABC News was reserved for the legendary United Press International correspondent who is now a columnist for Hearst Newspapers.
… Thomas, who has been questioning presidents and press secretaries for 46 years, plans to be there. But her front-row seat won’t be.
…Thomas has been at the front of the class ever since scribes just pulled their chairs up around the press secretary. Now, the assigned seats are coveted real estate – both as a sign of status and because the closer you sit to the front, the better your chance of getting called on …
…It’s the only seat that traditionally is left vacant if unoccupied. Every other chair gets filled in by those without regular seats, whose questions do not always live up to Thomas’s zingers.
Thomas has retained her edge over the years and asks blunt, argumentative questions, often sympathetic to Palestine. Nevertheless, press secretary Tony Snow treats her with deference. One day, he mysteriously said from the podium that he wanted to see her afterward. It turned out he wanted her to sign one of her books.
