Helen Thomas Unleashed!!!---"Lap Dogs of the Press"

[kpete]

Lap Dogs of the Press
by HELEN THOMAS



Of all the unhappy trends I have witnessed--conservative swings on television networks, dwindling newspaper circulation, the jailing of reporters and "spin"--nothing is more troubling to me than the obsequious press during the run-up to the invasion of Iraq. They lapped up everything the Pentagon and White House could dish out--no questions asked.

Reporters and editors like to think of themselves as watchdogs for the public good. But in recent years both individual reporters and their ever-growing corporate ownership have defaulted on that role. Ted Stannard, an academic and former UPI correspondent, put it this way: "When watchdogs, bird dogs, and bull dogs morph into lap dogs, lazy dogs, or yellow dogs, the nation is in trouble."

The naïve complicity of the press and the government was never more pronounced than in the prelude to the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. The media became an echo chamber for White House pronouncements. One example: At President Bush's March 6, 2003, news conference, in which he made it eminently clear that the United States was going to war, one reporter pleased the "born again" Bush when she asked him if he prayed about going to war. And so it went.

After all, two of the nation's most prestigious newspapers, the New York Times and the Washington Post, had kept up a drumbeat for war with Iraq to bring down dictator Saddam Hussein. 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. The Post was much more hawkish than the Times--running many editorials pumping up the need to wage war against the Iraqi dictator--but both newspapers played into the hands of the Administration.

.....................

My concern is why the nation's media were so gullible. Did they really think it was all going to be so easy, a "cakewalk," a superpower invading a Third World country? Why did the Washington press corps forgo its traditional skepticism? Why did reporters become cheerleaders for a deceptive Administration? Could it be that no one wanted to stand alone outside Washington's pack journalism?

lots, lots, lots more at:

http://www.thenation.com/docprint.mhtml?i=20060327&s=thomas
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/3/9/163544/3046

[revree]

1. Forget Hillary! HELEN FOR PRESIDENT!!!

HELEN! HELEN! HELEN! HELL ON WHEELS!!!

[Greyhound]

34. She, I would vote for!

[MadMaddie]

2. You gotta love Helen!!

:bounce:

[blm]

3. I submit a good dose of anthrax made the press NEED to believe in Bush and

his administration. Quelled the suspicious types, too, who feared their own encounter with the powder.

[Nabia2004]

44. but they were already bought and paid for in 2000 - nt

[blm]

49. True - anthrax just sealed their commitment.

.

[Richard Steele]

4. Too many reporters, not enough JOURNALISTS like Helen. K&R'd

[TomInTib]

5. Helen, HellonWheels....

recommended con mucho gusto

[stlsaxman]

53. Come Helen Hightwater! n/t

[MsKandice01]

6. Whenever I see Helen on TV, I just wanna hug her..

It's a shame there are so few with her courage and strength.

[calimary]

7. Good Lord but I LOVE Helen Thomas.

She's the voice crying in the wilderness. At least WE can hear her. But the way she's been snubbed and ham-handed by this White House, and worse yet, the way her colleagues in the White House Press CORPSE refused to stick up for her when she was treated so rudely (all you could hear were crickets chirping. It was a world-class DISGRACE), just INEXCUSABLE!!! The other folks in that press CORPSE better damned well hope they never get the shaft like she did, but then again, she'd probably be there to speak out against it, UNLIKE what anybody did for her.

[SoCalDem]

8. Helen voices what we all know.. ( and a repost of our DU cartoon)

[TahitiNut]

20. Your cartoon should've been a part of her article.

I know of none other more apt.

[SoCalDem]

21. and we did it THREE YEARS AGO

:)

[malaise]

29. Both Helen and your cartoon

are brilliant. I'm ROTFL at the dogs. CNN is priceless:rofl: :rofl:

[SoCalDem]

30. I think Jen modeled it after Candy Crowley.. I like skinny little NPR

[madokie]

36. looking like oh shit.

thats a great 'toon.

[malaise]

37. CNN is the best for me

but Fox, NPR and MSNBC are pretty funny as well. WTF is MSNBC looking at??? A truly great cartoon. :rofl: :rofl:

[SoCalDem]

50. Probably hot on the trail of a missing girl.....somewhere

:)

[Imagevision]

9. Helen is aces wuth me - more balls then all of them put together!

[magellan]

10. There are four women I hold in particularly high regard

...for their strength, wisdom, courage, ideals and innate sense of decency. They are: Helen Thomas, Katherine Hepburn, Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, and my grandmother.

Thank heavens for them all.

[myrna minx]

11. Thank you Ms. Thomas.

:patriot:

[dogday]

12. Now here is a reporter

Helen hold your head up high. From the beginning you have been calling all of this and you have been shunned.... You are the best reporter there, hold your head high... Way to Go!

[Stinky The Clown]

13. Ms. Thomas, may you live to be a hundred and twenty. You're a voice

that we cannot afford to lose.

She is well into her 80's. I pray she'll be with us - active and working - many more years.

[LuckyLib]

26. I second that. You can't help but think she stays on because

she loves her work and she sees a diminishing number of "journalists" in the profession these days. I love it when she gets into it with Scottie. She calls him on his bull and he, of course, lumps her in with the "unpatriotic." She can run circles around those White House lap dogs.

[blondeatlast]

40. From your lips (er, fingers) to God's ears.

If He exists and truly loves America, He's gonna let her plug away until He can find a suitable replacement.

She's one of the very precious few that remembers that a strong press is a pillar of democracy.

[donkeyotay]

14. The media weren't gullible. They were doing their job

The military thinks it's part of their business to manipulate public opinion during war, even if the war is looong or permanent.

[understandinglife]

15. K&R and thank you, once again, Ms Thomas!!!

Peace.

[Dinger]

16. Hell Yeah, Helen For President

People are living longer and longer these days. She could do it, yes she could.

[ooglymoogly]

17. the great helen thomas

standing up true straight and strong, along with walter cronkite she is the last of the great true and honest journalists. god bless you helen

[ooglymoogly]

51. and bill moyers

[hlthe2b]

18. Can anybody locate the Helen T graphic as Babe Ruth?

Our heroine?....


It was about four years ago and I had it, but lost it! Thanks in advance if you could post it.

[TahitiNut]

19. I'm proud to be an alum of the same university as Helen.

She rocks ... and always has!!! There's not a single word of hyperbole in her article. She calls it exactly like it is.

[RazzleDazzle]

23. Oh, wow. Really?

I'm just breathless at that news. Wowwwwweeeee. How wonderful. And amazing. Just think -- our very own TahitiNut and Helen Thomas. Amazing. I'm so glad you pointed that out for us. Really.

[TahitiNut]

31. "our"? "us"?

Using collective personal pronouns in addressing an indvidual in sarcastic or antagonistic terms is the rhetoric of a bully and a coward. Be proud. :eyes:

[Just Me]

22. Whew boy did the press default on their responsibility to their public.

Helen is able to articulate the truth, superbly.

I love that woman!!!

[Vidar]

24. Helen Thomas has only one peer--Walter Cronkite.

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

25. i got to meet helen monday night

when she spoke at my school. she's awesome

[LuckyLib]

27. Consider it one of the highlights of your education.

[Pastiche423]

28. Today I received an email from Ms.Thomas

(the 2nd one I have received and I will print out this one, as well) after I sent her the Helen Thomas/PNAC DU thread. Her response was:

"great to have a friend, helent"

It is such a fabulous feeling knowing, not only that she gets it, but is unafraid to say it and type it OUT LOUD!

[jmatthan]

32. Helen's email address

I just found that her email address at hearstdc.com is bouncing.

Has she changed her email.

Could you please let me have it as I would like to congratulate her on this article.

[Pastiche423]

33. Sorry, I should have put it in my post

Helen Thomas' email address = [e-mail]

Maybe you forgot the "t" after helen?

[B Calm]

35. It tickles me, the Bush Crime Family are afraid of this old women..

[Nothing Without Hope]

38. Let's hope the rising protest over Iraq can prevent the invasion of Iran.

And long may Helen Thomas wave. I hope I grow up to be an old lady just like her.

[madokie]

39. Thanks kpete for posting that, reading that article was so surreal

it is my thoughts exactly, as if somehow i could have done it myself, knowing full well not a snowball's chance in hell of that happening. It sure was a good way to start my friday.

[JohnyCanuck]

41. A banana republic press

America Is a Banana Republic

SNIP

The criminal cabal is largely in control in the United States, but they must still pay some attention to the people, to make sure they don't get too discontented and activated. We're in a race to see how rapidly the cabal can turn American citizens into brain-dead Republican conservatives and how much we can help people wake up to what's happening in America and the world. As long as America retains some vital remnants of a democratic republic, we must do whatever is necessary to safeguard them.

When bad men combine,
the good must associate;
else they will fall, one by one."

Edmund Burke

A similar cabal tried to turn the United States into a banana republic in the 1790s. Jefferson, Madison, and progressive Americans throughout the nation were finally able to defeat them. The fascistic Federalist Party was utterly destroyed. That can happen again--to the current treasonous Republican party. To have stolen the 2004 election and put in place a system to steal subsequent elections is one of the vilest acts of treason any party could perpetrate!

A hallmark of a banana republic is that the junta controls the press and lies with impunity to the people. In any true democracy, the Bush junta would have been impeached--for high crimes and misdemeanors, but the Republican-owned media have destroyed the safeguard of an American free press. If you have any doubt that the media are now mere propaganda arms of the Bush junta, see the outstanding video: "Outfoxed."

http://www.new-enlightenment.com/banana_rep.htm

[bluerum]

42. Oh Helen, what are we going to do when no one questions our

leaders anymore?

What are we going to do when the press feel their job is done after sending White House press releases to the print room.

The press is changing - it is now media - and the white house is adept at manipulating it. The public, and some media people need to learn the difference between media and reporting. Talking heads are not news people. They are media. I think we are moving beyond the media is the message to the media is a conduit for the message.

There needs to be a clear distinction made between info-tainment, and real news - real history. Until the press and the people can see that important distinction I think that we will continue to be fed drivel and slop at the trough.

[DawgHouse]

43. I have so much admiration for her!

I hope other journalists will follow her lead.

[Dragonbreathp9d]

45. Alright Helen

[mzmolly]

46. So glad that people are talking about the MEDIA!

Bravo Helen! :toast:

[Lena inRI]

47. Tough-as-nails-Thomas keeps on the attack. . .

and we are forever grateful to you, Helen.

I'd like to extend the analogy to

"Lap Dogs of the Press with their tails between their legs."

What will be the moment that will shake them out of their paycheck-protective complacency?

A Great Depression? GWB's bisexuality exposed? Fitzgerald taken off the Plame case?

Helen, what, for the love of God, will we do as BushCo repeats their warmongering for Iran in the next few months?

Meanwhile, Helen, you deserve the highest award possible for your persistent questioning of GWB's White House press secretaries.

:yourock:

[hootinholler]

48. Am I the only one who remembers the DU debate that ended with

Calling them the Poodle Press?

WTG (again) Helen.

-Hoot

[misternormal]

52. Ratings and more ratings...

... IN my opinion, the day that the Neilsen Rating system started is the day that Press Objectivity died.

No one in the press really cares, well... not the ones that have control of the purse-strings anyway.

It is time for reporters to stand up and report the truth, and damn the ratings... Stand on principle, not ratings.