Media freedom; Veteran reporter retires over Israel comments

[Spring Onion]

Veteran reporter retires over Israel comments


msnbc.com staff and news service reports
updated 5:22 p.m. PT, Mon., June 7, 2010

Veteran White House reporter Helen Thomas is retiring in the wake of controversial comments she made about Israel.

Hearst News Service, for which Thomas is a columnist, reported her retirement announcement Monday.

Her retirement is effective immediately. She began covering the White House in 1960.


Thomas has apologized for the comments, which were captured on video by an interviewer for the website “RabbiLIVE.com.”

On the May 27 video, Thomas says Israelis should "get the hell out of Palestine," suggesting they go to Germany, Poland or the U.S.

Those remarks drew sharp criticism from the Obama administration earlier Monday, as well as the cancellation of a high school graduation speech she was to deliver.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs was asked at his daily briefing with reporters about President Barack Obama's reaction to Thomas' remarks. Gibbs called them "offensive and reprehensible."

"She should and has apologized," Gibbs said. "Because obviously those remarks do not reflect certainly the opinion of most of the people here and certainly not of the administration."

Thomas had been scheduled to speak at the June 14 graduation of Walt Whitman High School in the Washington suburb of Bethesda, Md., but Principal Alan Goodwin wrote in a Sunday e-mail to students and parents that she was being replaced.

"Graduation celebrations are not the venue for divisiveness," Goodwin wrote.

Video

Should Helen Thomas retire?
June 7: NBC News' White House Correspondent Savannah Guthrie tells Morning Joe about veteran White House correspondent Helen Thomas' controversial comments on Israel.
Morning Joe


Thomas wrote on her website that "I deeply regret my comments I made last week regarding the Israelis and the Palestinians."

She added: "They do not reflect my heart-felt belief that peace will come to the Middle East only when all parties recognize the need for mutual respect and tolerance. May that day come soon."

The national director of the Anti-Defamation League, Abraham H. Foxman, said Sunday that Thomas' apology didn't go far enough.

"Her suggestion that Israelis should go back to Poland and Germany is bigoted and shows a profound ignorance of history," Foxman said in a statement. "We believe Thomas needs to make a more forceful and sincere apology for the pain her remarks have caused."

Thomas, 89, began her long career with the wire service United Press International in 1943, and started covering the White House in 1960, according to a biography posted on her website. She became a columnist for Hearst in 2000.

© 2010 msnbc.com

Veteran reporter retires over Israel comments - Politics- msnbc.com

 

[SQ8]

I wonder if the same response would be given to a person advocating the removal of Pakistan from Azad Kashmir..
Or if somebody openly made blasphemous comments about our Prophet..

 

[Spring Onion]

I wonder if the same response would be given to a person advocating the removal of Pakistan from Azad Kashmir..
Or if somebody openly made blasphemous comments about our Prophet..

Yes santro thats the point.

This word Freedom of Expression is a tricky words and its one-sided use is pathetic.


Yes Santro thats the point.

This word freedom of expression is always used one-sidedly by the west and US.

Biased double standards

 

[GUNNER]

I am wondering if that is also an indicator of the influence that Jews hold in the US.

 

[gambit]

You people really do not understand what is 'Freedom of Speech', do you? It does not mean there are no consequences. What it mean is that there should be no consequences from the state, other than yelling 'Fire' in a theater when there is no fire. The US government can express criticism just like any ordinary person can but no one from the US government pressured her employer or her sponsors to drop her. Freedom of speech mean you are free to express your opinion and others are equally free to express theirs to counter yours without the government taking either side.

 

[Spring Onion]

You people really do not understand what is 'Freedom of Speech', do you? It does not mean there are no consequences. What it mean is that there should be no consequences from the state, other than yelling 'Fire' in a theater when there is no fire. The US government can express criticism just like any ordinary person can but no one from the US government pressured her employer or her sponsors to drop her. Freedom of speech mean you are free to express your opinion and others are equally free to express theirs to counter yours without the government taking either side.

tell me if here your Govt did not take Side


"White House press secretary Robert Gibbs was asked at his daily briefing with reporters about President Barack Obama's reaction to Thomas' remarks. Gibbs called them "offensive and reprehensible."

"She should and has apologized," Gibbs said. "Because obviously those remarks do not reflect certainly the opinion of most of the people here and certainly not of the administration."]"


Who is a govt official to give verdict if she should or not apologise

 

[gambit]

tell me if here your Govt did not take Side


"White House press secretary Robert Gibbs was asked at his daily briefing with reporters about President Barack Obama's reaction to Thomas' remarks. Gibbs called them "offensive and reprehensible."

"She should and has apologized," Gibbs said. "Because obviously those remarks do not reflect certainly the opinion of most of the people here and certainly not of the administration."]"


Who is a govt official to give verdict if she should or not apologise

When I said that the government does not take side I meant that the government would not take punitive actions against the target of its criticism. Punitive actions such as putting the person in jail. Calling for an apology or condemning a comment does not qualify as punitive actions. So you really do not understand what 'freedom of speech' really mean. No surprise here.

 

[PlanetWarrior]

When I said that the government does not take side I meant that the government would not take punitive actions against the target of its criticism. Punitive actions such as putting the person in jail. Calling for an apology or condemning a comment does not qualify as punitive actions. So you really do not understand what 'freedom of speech' really mean. No surprise here.

Perhaps in Pakistan the freedom of speech principle is exercised more widely than in the USA hence their shock at the words of the White House spokesperson

 

[M8R]

Perhaps in Pakistan the freedom of speech principle is exercised more widely than in the USA hence their shock at the words of the White House spokesperson

It is.If you just watch right wing Pakistani News Channels like Geo..They're literally abusing the current left wing government all the time and adding spicy to news to show current Pakistani Government in negative side.The US administrator would not even let it happen..People here talk on media against government that in US would be considered libel.Then We also have left wing media (DAWN Group) that is totally different from right wing media and yet it operates without any problem in Pakistan.

 

[PlanetWarrior]

It is.If you just watch right wing Pakistani News Channels like Geo..They're literally abusing the current left wing government all the time and adding spicy to news to show current Pakistani Government in negative side.The US administrator would not even let it happen..People here talk on media against government that in US would be considered libel.

Freedom of speech cannot be absolute freedom of speech or else it makes a mockery of democracy. There has to be checks and balances and limitations or else the libel laws etc would become insignificant. That would result in people taking the law into their own hands to defend their honour and integrity.

 

[kugga]

Perhaps in Pakistan the freedom of speech principle is exercised more widely than in the USA hence their shock at the words of the White House spokesperson

There are also some sectors which has soft corner towards Israel but they are never banned or jailed and never pressurized to resign

---------- Post added at 09:27 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:26 PM ----------

Freedom of speech cannot be absolute freedom of speech or else it makes a mockery of democracy. There has to be checks and balances and limitations or else the libel laws etc would become insignificant. That would result in people taking the law into their own hands to defend their honour and integrity.

Yeah that's what the whole Muslims world is shouting for a year now...

 

[BATMAN]

US government pressured her employer or her sponsors to drop her. Freedom of speech mean you are free to express your opinion and others are equally free to express theirs to counter yours without the government taking either side.

Do you know Dr. Sheerin Mazari? She was Director General of Institute of Strategic Studies, a research think-tank based in Islamabad, Pakistan.

US not only got her fired but also persuaded the daily news for stop printing her research work any more.

This is exactly why regimes are changed around the globe but US dosn't know who pull his strings and of those new democratic leaders.

Independent voices are supressed and facts are distorted trials are executed behind closed doors.......

Please,,,, start accepting the reality.... and consider this news an eye opener.

 

[Desertfalcon]

Oh boy people! No one forced her out. She is 89 years old! She is simply taking the opportunity over this to finally retire. You can hear or read or watch all of the anti-Israel news you want in America. We have a completely free press. You can't just sue a reporter for libel because you don't like what they say and practically no reporters are so successfully sued. You can only do that if they print something that is clearly untrue and you suffer for it. Even then it is hardly an easy thing to do.

You don't like the main stream media in America? Then you have about 122 other channels to choose from on television or the Internet or magazines or newspapers. We get everything from Spanish Unavision to Arabic Al Jezeera. We have journals available from China to the Sudan. You can watch anything you want.

 

[gambit]

Perhaps in Pakistan the freedom of speech principle is exercised more widely than in the USA hence their shock at the words of the White House spokesperson

Is Helen Thomas imprisoned? By whom? Is she even under house arrest? Is her pension taken away by the government?

Thomas' biases, not just merely critical of any administration she covered as a reporter, was well known BEFORE she quit being a reporter in 2000 and became a columnist. Her biases were so blatant that even her fellow White House beat reporters, many of whom she tutored, rolled their eyes at her disregard for journalistic ethics but they bit their tongues out of respect for her seniority and longevity at that same beat.

There is nothing wrong with being tough on an administration, but like it or not, a reporter is not allowed to influenced his work with his own personal biases. Thomas failed that test over a decade ago. When she became a columnist, then it is a different story. A columnist is supposed to express his biases but he must be intellectually honest enough in his opinions to show the readers opinions that runs counter to his own. Thomas barely does that. As a 'liberal', her disregard for counter opinions is just as bad as the far right columnists like Pat Buchanan. Worse, Thomas and Buchanan shares the same contempt for Jews and Israel.

So what is wrong with people expressing their shock at her anti-Israel comment? May be it is because you expect the American public to be as rabidly anti-Jews and anti-Israel as the ME and therefore such comments are the norm? As a reporter, you are expected to shock people, but only from the contents of your reportage, not from yourself. So for those who believe that Helen Thomas was persecuted by the government for her opinion, just answer the questions above.

 

[pbrosam010]

There is something that you Muslims are not understanding. First, Helen Thomas's mother and father are of Lebanonese decent. As a reporter, especially reporting from the White House, regardless of your personal views, you must remain neutral in your reporting. When asked the question, she let her own personal view toward the Israeli's come out. If this were a normal citizen, it would have been more acceptable, but as a reporter representing the White House Press Corp, this is what got her in trouble. It was not the government who asked her to resign, but rather the American citizens who felt this comment was anti-semitic bigotry. You must understand. The same that Medina, Mecca and the Al-Aqsa mosque is Holy to the Muslims, Israel and Jerusalem are held to these same high esteem to the Christians. Jerusalem is the "Mecca" for Christianity. The Christians of the world view Israel as holy and the birthplace of the Christian Messiah. This is why America is so strong on backing Israel and the Jewish people. Our Bible teahes that the Jewish land and people are God's Chosen People. The same way that you all look at Mohammed, we look at Jesus. The way you look at Allah, we look at God. It doesn't mean either of us are wrong. We cannot force our personal beliefs upon the world. It is up to each individual to determine and follow their own personal beliefs. Christians do not dislike muslims. We just don't understand the violence that is being conducted by those muslims who are blowing up buildings, killing non-muslims, etc. There is no need for it. I honestly hope I have not offended anyone. That is not my intent. It is only to give you an explaination of why America supports the Jewish people as they do. We feel that everyday, they are fighting for their survival.