Helen Thomas, a reporter since the Eisenhower administration and White House bureau chief for UPI, has resigned. After years of raising eyebrows (and ire) for her anti-Israeli statements, her tirade against Israel and Jews in general has ended a six decade long career.
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Her career wasn’t historic simply because its longevity, Thomas, the daughter of Lebanese immigrants, was the first woman to be admitted to the White House Correspondents Association and later served as its first female President of the organization. She also broke gender barriers as the first woman officer of the National Press Club and the Gridiron Club.
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But while she mastered arguably one of the most prestigious gigs for a reporter, she failed to understand the most basic job requirement. A reporter (no matter how high up the career ladder) is supposed to…report.
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Thomas stopped reporting the news and events that shaped White House policy and practice and instead used her position to not only push her opinions, but bludgeon those who didn’t agree. Helen Thomas has long suffered from “Superior Opinion Syndrome” and she isn’t alone.
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Now, don’t get me wrong. Sharing opinions is very valuable. Evaluating the informed opinions of educated and/or experienced people is a great way to understand different perspectives on issues and to develop our own opinions. As a political commentator, I express my opinions on a daily basis. But let’s be clear, at issue isn’t Helen Thomas’ personal opinions, she (like everyone else) is entitled to have personal opinions even if those opinions are offensive, ignorant, or just plain nuts. The problem is that her paid position as a reporter and White House correspondent required her to leave her personal opinions at home and report ONLY the facts.
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But, Helen Thomas is like an ever increasing number of people across the country, who despite occupational requirements to be unbiased, to follow the letter of the law, or report facts alone, are turning their paid positions into pulpits and preaching their opinions as facts. These sufferers of “Superior Opinion Syndrome” believe that their opinions are so on-point, so important, so superior, that they can disregard the tenants of their occupations and use their positions and power to “correct” perceived inequities in society or steer policy and practice.
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In classrooms, courthouses, and news rooms nationwide, the sufferers of “Superior Opinion Syndrome” supplant fact with radically distorted views of the world and our role in it. The evidence of their illness is all around us. It’s in the YouYube videos of public school teachers forcing grade school children to reveal who their parents support politically and then calling them racists for not supporting Obama. It’s in the court room when a pedophile is released yet again by a Judge who blames the child rapist’s upbringing. And it’s in print media and the evening news when the likes of Helen Thomas and Chris Mathews edit the facts in order to suit their agenda and beliefs.
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Perhaps most frightening, because we expect those who teach, dispense justice, or inform us to be unbiased and professional, millions of people around the world simply accept the masqueraded opinions of those in positions of authority, believing skewed views to be factual and their own tainted positions to be centrist. This happens in the media on a daily basis and misinformation, slanted views, and outright lies are being regurgitated as truth, honesty, and sincerity. This powerful indoctrination force villianized one President and elevated another from obscurity. It reinvents history, makes victims into aggressors, and terrorists into martyrs.
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And that’s the real crime. Helen Thomas has a right to her opinion. She even has a right to express her opinion. But when she puts on her reporter hat, she has an obligation and professional and ethical duty to report only the events. If she wants to express her opinion, because of her professional role, she must absolutely declare that what she is saying or writing is ONLY opinion. People in positions of power and influence must differentiate between their personal opinions, beliefs, and agendas and actual events. To do otherwise, to clothe opinion as fact and disseminate it among news outlets, further damages an already wounded news media.
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After decades of indoctrination and manipulation, after broken promises, next day revelations, and double talk, many Americans know that they are being deceived; they simply don’t know who to believe. The body which once held businesses and the government accountable no longer functions properly and whether it is Chris Mathews and his tingly leg, Obama taking the stage at a free rock concert and later claiming that the tens of thousands gathered were there to see him, or Reuters editing out weapons to paint a sympathetic picture of murdering “activists,” journalism has become more about leading the masses and less about informing them.
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Now Obama is poised to use America’s mistrust and anger at the biased media against the very organizations that made his meteoric rise possible. Obama’s love fest with some of the mainstream media has come to a rather abrupt halt, thanks in large part to his failure to run a transparent government as promised and failures in environmental and social reforms. While liberal owned media outlets continue to promote an Obama agenda, many are backing away from supporting Obama personally and are instead focusing on other liberal politicians to carry the flag.
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This must have come as quite a shock to Obama who benefited enormously throughout his campaign as sufferers of “Superior Opinion Syndrome” in the media excused inaccuracies, covered up scandals, and dismissed genuine questions about his background, beliefs, associations, and financing.
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His response to media disloyalty? Federalize the media. Yes Obama and the Federal Trade Commission are working on a plan to “reinvent journalism” and are using the very mistrust that Americans feel for the media in order to whip up support. In an effort to control what is reported and the way in which it reaches the masses, the Obama administration seeks to put all media under the control of the government and to end internet and independent media all together.
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Not only would the Obama administration tax ISP addresses essentially taxing internet use by private citizens, the FTC proposal would require media outlets and journalists to be licensed and regulated AND facts and articles to be approved by….the government. As goes the First Amendment, so goes the Constitution.
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Helen Thomas was a journalistic attack dog, calling out administrations and policies on both sides of the political spectrum for decades. To consider her one of the nodding, media, leftists who have salivated at the knee of Obama would be disingenuous. Thomas asked the tough questions of the President and has been critical of his failure on governmental transparency, the environment, and social and world policy issues. When she did her job, that of unbiased reporter sniffing out a story and pinning down a quote, she was terrific. But suffering from “Superior Opinion Syndrome” cost her her credibility as a journalist and destroyed her career. Now Obama is using her own failure to be a reporter and not an opinionista as proof that the media needs his control.
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Hopefully those like Thomas, those suffering from “Superior Opinion Syndrome” will harken back to the professional and ethical standards that their jobs dictate and either clearly differentiate their opinions from facts or leave their opinions at home. Short of a return to integrity, the destruction of the First Amendment’s protection of the press falls on their shoulders.
Alexandrea Merrell
