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Norma Zager
Helen Thomas Remembers
July 29, 2009

"The only security of all is in a free press. The force of public opinion cannot be resisted when permitted freely to be expressed. The agitation it produces must be submitted to. It is necessary, to keep the waters pure."
-- Thomas Jefferson to Lafayette, 1823

On occasion a particular revelation or thought may cause one to laugh out loud. An hour after watching the White House briefing recently where seasoned reporter Helen Thomas took Robert Gibbs to task for White House efforts to control the media, I laughed aloud.

It occurred to me, at this rather seasoned stage of my life as well, the old caveat about how old age allows one to remember what happened thirty years previous, but rarely what occurred the day before holds true. A truth I am finding all too scary of late.

The passing of Walter Cronkite only revisited my fears the press has sold out for political access and its own agenda. Cronkite’s left-leaning politics were completely unknown to his audience. Growing up I was never aware he had views. However, I was incredibly aware he possessed a heart.

Thomas’s stern tongue lashing into Gibbs could have been predicated on the truth we remember things longer passed than sooner. She may have at last “remembered” her angry feelings at being “handled” by any politician.

Lately, I have found little solace in the behavior of American Journalists. Thomas herself appeared to have succumbed to the media’s complete lack of political objectivity until memory clearly served her.

The outburst of laughter of which I speak is not a hearty happy yuk yuk of someone enjoying the joke. There is nothing funny, nay enjoyable about the current state of American journalism. Of late I have moved on from being a reporter to a commentator as a personally rebellious act, however I am certain I still retain the ability to distinguish the two. Sadly, too many reporters do not.

Journalists have historically possessed a liberal viewpoint. A truth well known and accepted, which up until now has done little to hinder an ability to report events accurately and objectively.

There has been a sense of pride that mainstream American reporters were capable of this feat. It has been the cornerstone of the great and near-great writers who have graced the pages of our newspaper giants.

Those who have in the past attempted to “make or distort news” have been outed and ridiculed for their efforts.

William Randolph Hearst’s famous quote to artist/correspondent Frederic Remington writing Hearst from a peaceful Cuba in 1898 asking to come home, still remains chilling. Hearst wrote back: "Please remain. You furnish the pictures and I'll furnish the war."

Yet others wore their profession like a badge of honor.

The great Edward R. Murrow fought McCarthy’s powerful machine without fear because he believed intrinsically in the power of American journalism. “We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. When the loyal opposition dies, I think the soul of America dies with it.” Murrow’s words serve as a warning to all administrations, past and present, they will not and must not succeed in burying or creating their own truth.

The advent of the Internet has delivered a new voice onto the scene. It is not journalism, but a distant facsimile by a group of citizen-journalists who do not possess the information or education necessary to fully comprehend a profession they profess.

Journalism is not solely reporting the news factually and accurately. It is divorcing oneself from its content, rendering no opinion even when your very soul is aching to scream at an injustice or evil. It is a far cry from the job of a reporter to seek out and uncover evil, and the law’s responsibility to judge and punish the wrongdoing.

No objective journalist can successfully accomplish both.

Sadly, it is not only the uneducated among citizen-journalists who mistake opinion and bias for news reporting, but the disease has seeped into the very bones of the mainstream press. Fawning and drooling once reserved for celebrity reporting is now commonplace among mainstream political journalists.

Our forefathers understood the importance of supporting a free press responsible for keeping politicians honest. They knew so great was the potential for corruption among politicians it necessitated inclusion of a free press as the watchdog of democracy in our United States Constitution.

How effective can a ferocious Doberman be at guarding the gates if he is busy swallowing a piece of meat? Can reporters fawn over politicians they are meant to suspect?

I am appalled at recent allegations the Washington Post, the newspaper of Ben Bradlee, Watergate and the premiere political watchdog for the American people, has sold its soul for a few coins in its coffers.

Are the words of New York Times Managing Editor John Swinton in 1880 perhaps the true account of American journalism?

“There is no such thing, at this date of the world's history, in America, as an independent press. You know it and I know it. There is not one of you who dares to write your honest opinions, and if you did, you know beforehand that it would never appear in print.

“I am paid weekly for keeping my honest opinion out of the paper I am connected with. Others of you are paid similar salaries for similar things, and any of you who would be so foolish as to write honest opinions would be out on the streets looking for another job. If I allowed my honest opinions to appear in one issue of my paper, before twenty-four hours my occupation would be gone.

“The business of the journalists is to destroy the truth, to lie outright, to pervert, to vilify, to fawn at the feet of mammon, and to sell his country and his race for his daily bread. You know it and I know it, and what folly is this toasting an independent press?

“We are the tools and vassals of rich men behind the scenes. We are the jumping jacks they pull the strings and we dance. Our talents, our possibilities and our lives are all the property of other men. We are intellectual prostitutes.”

Sadly, his prophetic words may provide the last nail in the optimistic coffin of those who retain a scintilla of hope for the American press.

It is imperative journalists who seek to battle for the continuation of a great and free America wake up and remember the words of Nazi Joseph Goebbels, “Not every item of news should be published. Rather must those who control news policies endeavor to make every item of news serve a certain purpose.”

I prefer to believe the words of one of America’s greatest journalists Walter Lippmann will accurately forecast the future of my profession. "A free press is not a privilege but an organic necessity in a great society."

Helen Thomas remembered. One can only pray the remainder of American Journalists will do so as well.

About Norma Zager
In the series “Postcards from Israel – Postcards from Home,” Norma Zager and Ari Bussel invite readers throughout the world to join them as they present reports about Israel, homeland of the Jewish People, as seen by two sets of eyes. This “point - counter-point” presentation has, since 2008, become part of our lives. It can be found in numerous websites around the world as well as in print in the USA.