Helen Thomas: Questioning Everything

Journalism legend Helen Thomas apprised aspiring reporters of the difficult road ahead of them on Feb. 8. In a video teleconference conducted with C-SPAN, she explained that although "everybody with a laptop thinks they're a journalist now," asking the tough questions is still the highest calling of any reporter.

When Thomas began covering president-elect John F. Kennedy in 1960, she was already in her 17th year as a reporter. 47 years and eight presidents later, she hasn't taken her watchful eye off Pennsylvania Ave.

After all, someone has to do it. Thomas explained to the students the one thing that hasn't changed over nine presidencies: the control of information is the prerogative of any presidential administration.

Thomas reminded students that the presidential press conference is the only forum remaining where the public can question a chief executive. Doubly tragic, she noted, that these conferences have devolved into little more than dodgeball sessions.

"It is important that questions are asked," she said, "even if there is no answer."

Thomas' no-mercy approach won many fans among the students. "Politicians can't run from her and the ones who try and dodge her questions should be watched carefully," said George Mason student Jade Newman.

Thomas shared her memories of the presidents she has covered without much malice. She wistfully recalled when John F. Kennedy told the world "America will never start a war." She remembered the much-reviled Richard Nixon as a brilliant, if luckless, politician. "He always had two roads to go, and he always took the wrong road."

Thomas saved her harshest comments for George W. Bush, the one who "struck a match across the Middle East." She referred to Iraq as "Vietnam with sand . . . everything has a price, we've brought total misery to a country."

Thomas repeatedly referred to Bush's administration as a "debacle," but noted with hope that "reporters are coming out of their coma."