In June of last year, White House press corps vet Helen Thomas resigned from her columnist’s post with Hearst Newspapers following an outpouring of condemnation aimed at controversial comments she made about Israel. Asked by a Rabbi for “any comments on Israel” at a WH Jewish Heritage Celebration, Thomas responded, “Tell them to get the hell out of Palestine.” She went on to say, “Remember, these people are occupied, and it’s their land,” and suggested that Israelis leave Palestine and go back to Germany and Poland.
Thomas, now ninety, has since defended her remarks and is back to writing—penning a column for the Falls Church News-Press. In an interview about the new job, Thomas walked back her statements a little: “I didn’t tell the Zionists to get out of Israel, I told them to get out of Palestine, and to stop mistreating the Palestinians. It’s very depraved and inhumane. I’m not anti-Semitic.”
Now, in a move that has put Thomas once more in the spotlight, the Society of Professional Journalists decided last Friday to retire their “Helen Thomas Lifetime Achievement Award—in December, it was reported that Wayne State University in Detroit made a similar move, putting an end to its “Helen Thomas Spirit of Diversity Media Award.” In a letter carrying the names of SPJ president Hagit Limor and communications coordinator Andrew Scott, the Society writes:
A prominent objection to taking any action was that of Helen Thomas’ free speech rights. SPJ staunchly believes Helen Thomas and all people in the United States have a right to free speech. The Society defends that fundamental legal right as a core organizational mission, even when the speech is unpopular, vile or considered offensive.
However, the controversy surrounding this award has overshadowed the reason it exists. To continue offering the award would reignite the controversy each year and take away from its purpose: honoring a lifetime of work in journalism. No individual worthy of such honor should have to face this controversy. No honoree should have to decide if the possible backlash is worth being recognized for his or her contribution to journalism.
Some will no doubt disagree with the decision. In a letter to the SPJ Executive Board sent before the decision was reached, journalist Lloyd H. Weston wrote:
I no more believe that Helen Thomas is an anti-Semite than I believe in Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny. But the issue before you this week has nothing to do with anti-Semitism. It is not about Israel or Zionism. It is not about the Jews, the Palestinians or the Arabs. It is not even about Helen Thomas.
The only issue on your table today is whether SPJ stands for the unabridged right of any journalist - any American - to speak his or her opinion, on any subject, without fear of punishment or retribution from any government, individual, private or professional organization. To remove Helen Thomas’ name from the SPJ Lifetime Achievement Award, I believe, would constitute such dire abridgement, punishment and retribution.”
Where do you stand? Should the SPJ have retired the Helen Thomas Lifetime Achievement Award, or continued handing it out?
Well, if you wanted to reinforce the view that Israel has a overly powerful sway over American media and politics, then yeah - swipe the slate of Helen Thomas's 40 year career clean and remember her as the witch who offered a poison apple to Snow White and mentioned how the Jews should get out of the occupied territories to a guy who thinks the Mexicans should go back to Mexico:
http://colorlines.com/archives/2010/06/rabbi_who_brought_down_helen_thomas_has_great_mexican_impression.html
Let her be an example to other journalists who might speak their mind on some taboo subject some day.
And you can rename the award to the Marty Peretz life time achievement award for saying offensive things about safe targets. Now that guy, he's a mensch.
#1 Posted by Thimbles, CJR on Wed 19 Jan 2011 at 08:36 PM
Why should the prize be retired, after all, there are lots of journalism prizes whose namesakes don’t exactly live up to their reputations. IF Stone was a Soviet spy and George Polk tuned out to be a serial fabulist. Perhaps they could rename it the “Helen Thomas award for presenting the Hezbollah perspective” prize or something along those lines. I am sure that the Zionist who control the levers of power, according to Thomas, would just love that.
#2 Posted by Mike H, CJR on Thu 20 Jan 2011 at 09:52 AM
Mike H,
Had it ever occured to you that a great many Americans might also agree with Helen Thomas's position? And your confining her comments to the "Hezbollah perspective" rather than axknowledging that her comments were supportive of all Palestinians relative to the abraxive relationship with Isreal. You seem not content to confine your deceptive comment to the Helen Thomas issue. You drag in the tired ansd well worn canard concering IF Stone and espionage for the Soviet Union. Do a little more homework when your surfing over the historical record of any issue. Read more than the headlines and synopsis of otherwised purloined exposes in the right wing media.
#3 Posted by Jack, CJR on Mon 24 Jan 2011 at 03:23 PM
Jack, I am sure there are plenty of people who “thank God for Hezbollah” just as much a Helen Thomas does and there are plenty of outlets for people like that … Pacifica, Aljazeera US, The Nation magazine but we tend not to give wide platforms to many marginal extremist cause dejours. Its good business and quite frankly, there are many perspectives so bizarre and twisted they don’t deserve public debate. You might think that advocacy for organizations whose primary goal is the eradication of a nation and all its inhabitants to be “noble” or that it somehow enhances the public debate but I for one do not and am glad to not see it when I turn on the tube or open up Time magazine.
As for Stone, yes he was a spy for the Soviet Union during the darkest time in that nations history. You can parse the lexicon all you like about what it means to be a “spy”, but good ol Izzy had a clandestine relationship with the NKVD, was well aware who he was dealing with, performed tasks at their direction, kept this relationship secret and received financial compensation for his work.
I brought it up in relation to this issue because many of journalism’s most celebrated, like Stone and Polk, have some serious stains on their reputations and if the profession ignores those, why not ignore Thomas’?
#4 Posted by Mike H, CJR on Tue 25 Jan 2011 at 09:59 AM
Mike,
You talk as though you have first h and knowledge of events which you undoubtedly have no knowledge of at all. As for providing a forum for extreme points of view, that is hardly what Helen Thomas had done. So your straw house has little structural integrity. Also the media in this country give voice to many extreme elements and fringe ideologies. Michelle Backman, Glwnn Beck, Sarah Palin, etc all have the ear of the media at their beck and call with some of the craziest ideas one can imagine.
#5 Posted by Jack, CJR on Tue 25 Jan 2011 at 12:53 PM
You talk as though you have first hand knowledge of events which you undoubtedly have no knowledge of at all.
There have been several good articles and many great books written on the subject. I suggest you draw back the curtains of ignorance on what you think you do and don’t know. I might say you don’t know Jack on this subject, but he who would pun would pick a pocket.
As for providing a forum for extreme points of view, that is hardly what Helen Thomas had done.
She never had the opportunity to “provide a forum” but she certainly tired her darndest to turn press conferences into them.
Also the media in this country give voice to many extreme elements and fringe ideologies. Michelle Backman, Glwnn Beck, Sarah Palin, etc all have the ear of the media at their beck and call with some of the craziest ideas one can imagine.
Crazy like how? Crazy like: “I don’t agree with them” or crazy like: “they sound crazy because I have never heard anyone say anything like this in the Progressive or the Nation. And are they really any “crazier” than those who rail against them?
#6 Posted by Mike H, CJR on Tue 25 Jan 2011 at 03:37 PM
No mike, Michelle Bachmann, Glenn Beck, and Sarah Palin are all objectively pretty nutty.
And the people who rail for them, brandishing weapons based on their imagined existential conflicts, make that pretty clear.
You don't see American Helen Thomas supporters shooting up churches, getting into gunfights with police, and attempting to assault minor left wing foundations.
#7 Posted by Thimbles, CJR on Tue 25 Jan 2011 at 06:33 PM
The SPJ's problems go beyond just the Helen Thomas scandal. Here's my letter asking the SPJ National Board to initiate a full investigation into the actions of the current president and the past president. Although my focus addressed the Helen Thomas issue AND their apparent aggressive opposition to any American Arab presence in SPJ above the category of "membership," there are other issues involving politicizing the organization, gutting independence and diversity, and more. Peter Sussman has written about some additional challenges regarding the ethics committee, which was gutted and reorganized to silence opposition to their Mubarak-like regime.
Ray Hanania
Here's the link explaining my request for the SPJ investigation
http://arabjournalists.blogspot.com/2011/02/open-letter-to-spj-board-to-conduct.html
#8 Posted by Ray Hanania, CJR on Sat 12 Feb 2011 at 08:11 AM
Should the Helen Thomas Lifetime Achievement Award have been retired? Several of us think not (and that the matter was poorly handled). We have authored a resolution calling for the award's reinstatement which will be brought up at the annual convention in September. You can read it here:
http://ow.ly/4RFdD
Direct comments, questions, and support to Peter Sussman (peter at psussman.com).
#9 Posted by Brandon, CJR on Tue 10 May 2011 at 09:29 PM