Helen Thomas Losing Her WH Press Briefing Front Row Seat?

[kpete]

Shenanigans

Thomas Taking a Back Seat?

It may be a whole lot quieter in the remodeled White House Press Briefing Room when it opens in a few months.

Just days after the Washington Press Club Foundation presented its lifetime achievement award to legendary journalist Helen Thomas, rumors have begun to circulate that the scrappy veteran might lose her high-priced real estate in the White House briefing room.

Thomas has been a fixture in the room's front row for the better part of the past nine presidential administrations, ever since JFK took office. But the White House Press Briefing Room's renovations, which are expected to be unveiled in April or May, will reconfigure its seating chart and touch off a high-stakes game of musical chairs.

Officials from 24-hour cable news networks CNN and Fox, whose reporters have long been nursing strained necks in their second-row seats, have begun to clamor for front-row positions alongside their competitors at the Associated Press, Reuters, ABC, CBS and NBC. But the renovation will add only a single chair to each row, not enough to appease the increasingly popular news outlets. "It's either CNN or Fox and how do you choose between the two?" asks one source. That's where Thomas enters the equation. Add one seat from the renovation, remove an irascible administration critic, and bam! -- two open seats.

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

As for Thomas, as always, she's taking it all in stride. "It won't be the first time!" she says of being kicked out of her row. "I've had my great moments in the front row. It won't be the end of the world, I assure you," she tells Shenanigans, laughing. "I know how to shout."

more at:
http://www.politico.com/blogs/anneschroeder/0207/Shenanigans.html

[dogday]

1. That is just plain F**cked Up!!! nt

[Coexist]

2. Helen can be heard from whereever they place her

she will be back in front in two years, don't worry.

[Mandate My Ass]

3. These people have no class whatsoever

None. Their treatment of her has been rude and gutless since day one. But Helen is a true scrapper and their total lack of decorum won't phase her in the least.

[Norquist Nemesis]

4. Wouldn't be the first time if it's true

IIRC, Ari shoved her to the back row when she grilled him.

[demnan]

5. Maybe some cowardly journalist who's afraid to speak out

will offer up his seat to Helen.

[Horse with no Name]

6. You've got that backwards

That's who will be taking her seat.:eyes:

[Mandate My Ass]

7. those bootlicking toadies would walk over Helen's prone body

to bow and scrape obsequiously before the naked emperor. You got that right.

[bullimiami]

8. helens seat in the front row was actually given up, if I remember correctly,

all the way back when Ari was still PS.

I heard Helen explain this on a talk show back then, probably on AA, that when she left her job at UPI she lost he front row privileges.
She was not offended or feeling slighted.
If she has been in the front row since then it may have been out of respect and not due to the press pecking order.

With a little searching Im sure someone can find the relevant facts.