I think it is time for Helen Tohomas to retire.  She is so out-dated it is funny.  Please let the next generation take over.  I could never understand why she has gotten special privileges.  I am 74 and I know she is much older, but it is time we let the next generation deal with the problems.  Thank you!  Evelyn L. Fisher

She’s dead right.  Go back and look at what Obama said prior to and upon taking office.  All his grand rhetoric about transparency has completely fallen by the wayside, as have several other of his grandiose, platitudinous promises.  He is the narcissist-in-chief and slickest politician to occupy the people’s house since Bill Clinton - and that’s saying something.

Thank you Helen.  The media is starting to wake up!

He can’t speak without his teleprompters, and he can’t answer questions that aren’t pre-screened.

Maybe the reason Helen Thomas is still there is because she has a lifetime career of journalistic integrity (an increasingly scarce commodity in
the Obamedia). Maybe that’s why Ms. Fisher finds her outdated. It’s not “politically correct” to question this totally inexperienced “President”
or his emptyb rhetoric.

It great to see someone with enough guts to call these folks out.  The Obama administration knows they are in deep “d#^$#$” and are going to do everything they can to make themselves look good including prescreening media questions etc.

I think Helen should lighten up and quit thinking everything should be as she wants. She is quickly becoming a dinosaur and Obama realizes that more than she does.

She is a relic and not adjusting to the new media trend. The traditional role of the old school journalist is changing. It seems to me she is lashing out more against the inclusion of the public in her ‘space’ than anything else.

I am sick to death of gotcha and gaffe reporting. I want to know what Obama is planning to do, not waste a week of news coverage on a poorly phrased sentance.

The purpose of these meetings is to include the public, answer questions and form a message so we know what the hell he is planning on doing.

He 100% should vet the questions, combine them so they cover all the main areas .. then come out and talk to us about our concerns.

News is about ratings, not informing us. If Obama wanted to distract us, just fall down .. that will dominate the news for days.

BHO has shown himself and all those around him to be, quite simply, dishonest.  Did they “rig” the news conference? I have no idea, but if they could, there is no doubt that they would. And the media is complicit in the cover up because they’ve been giving him a pass all along.  Joe Anello jumps right on the bandwagon with his comment “she’s jumping the gun on this one” about Helen Thomas. I’m not a fan of hers be to dismiss her out of hand is the same as being in the bag for BHO.

The administration is dishonest and the media corrupt. A nice little combination we now have in this country.

She’s just upset because her question wasn’t chosen.

The managing of our free time, the usurping various government agencies,requiring us to comply with various mandates (licensing, registrations, legal forms, etc.)have reduced the thinking citizens of this country to be minimized in our beliefs, political views and ability to be heard.  Obviously, this is the means by which all democratically formed organizations are corrupted and ultimately destroyed.

Of course she is right. Distributing this is a free commercial for the administration’s policies.

I have to admire Ms Thomas - she can be critical of both Republicans and Democrats - non-partisan - how refreshing!  Most of the media are in the pockets of politicians and report what they’re told to report - I believe it’s called perception management.  Since Mr. Obama can’t seem to give the smallest speech without a teleprompter I wouldn’t put it past it minons to manipulate what questions are answered.

Helen Thomas is still just pissed off that Obama didn’t let her ask a followup question during the televised press conference when she got to ask a question. Plus she doesn’t understand the Internet. Great career, Helen, but you’re sour grapes now, just as you were during Bush’s tenure. Time for the next generation of reporters to do your job.

Is it possible the love affair, the unquestioning adoration for this demigod is finally over?  Until Chris Mathews tears up his Obama poster, that he keeps above his bed, will we know the press has seen the light and maybe, just maybe they will begin to factually report, without bias the good, bad and ugly of this administration.

I couldn’t agree more. Choosing which questions to answer precludes the opportunity to ask questions of our choice. That is a direct method of controlling the media.

I will never understand why people assume that Obama is above and beyond the dirt of normal politics. Also I have yet to see any “hope and change” whatever that abstract promise meant. I don’t actively dislike Obama, but the nation needs to wake up and scrutinize him and stop giving him a free pass because he’s young and reads a teleprompter good.

There really are two issues at hand here.  The first is the presentation of information to the populous.  The second is the corruption of information presented to the populous.  A government, including the White House, can say whatever it pleases about any topic it chooses and can do so through whatever media outlet it wishes, because in the final analysis it sets the rules.  CBS, CNN, and ABC are not going to tell the President of the United States that they do not want to broadcast a speech by the President to show reruns of I Love Lucy, because Helen Thomas had her feelings hurt or that she did not get to ask the question she wanted.  More importantly, no matter what the information presented is or how it is presented, it will be analyzed, “every-which-way-from-Tuesday” by a myriad of reporters and pundants trying to get there voice to the top of the mountain; whether the king has his clothes on or not.  To which many will say he did and equally many will say he did not.  All of this is just a matter of opinion in many ways.  Ultimately, for this reason, the method is secondary to the message; however, if the government wishes to lead the country around with an incomplete message, or half-truths, by trying to control the media by censoring and having foreknowledge of the questions that are asked of the President then there maybe a problem.  Helen had her run-ins with the previous administration that is clear.  Moreover, to that end, I believe that the previous Administration lied and cheated the American people at every opportunity to further their own selfish desires.  FOX lost a great deal of respect for it’s open support of the Administration, as the Administration was perceived by many as dishonest and FOX appeared to be operating as a propaganda machine for the Administration and the right-wing of government.  But, in the end, we saw through the haze of a dishonest Administration and moved forward, and maybe that happened because the Administration could not steel another election, or maybe we just all stood up and said enough is enough.  Either way, in either case government became more transparent, because that is what we want.  How a government chooses to communicate with its’ people shows a lot about both the leader and the message.  Our President has a message that he wishes to get out, I do not see that he is stalling the efforts to try to find the underlying cause of an issue; but rather trying to expedite HIS message.  We should be able to ask tuff and spontaneous questions of our President, and we do.  Nevertheless, the President should also be able to communicate with the populous as well.  Both sides of this issue are selfish.  The report is not looking to find the underlying cause of anything, they want to stump the President and therefore stump their fellow reports.  The President is trying to control the release of information, because knowledge is power.  Neither of these points of view adds that much to a transparent government, because both sides have secret or semi-secret agendas.  What we should be on the look out for is a President who does not communicate at all with the people, because he is truly afraid of the question.

You go girl, time to tell them they are overeating, and you’re fed up!

The press has been loyal to Obama for his whole political career, and now they turn on him. What a bunch of back-stabbers. If the press doesn’t like being treated like ‘puppets’ then they should have said so when Obama was running for office instead of getting him used to the idea for over a year and then acting shocked.

In all due respect to Jim, what type of drug are you on?  Clearly the cool-aid that was handed out at the obama love fests during the campaign should have worn off by now.  To insinuate that FOX was in the can for the Bush administration, one network out of at least 6, is to question your sanity. No other president in history has been given a pass by so many in the media.  Only now, do we begin to get the inklings of complaints from the likes of Helen Thomas.  Let me remind you that a free press is one of the foundations of our society and what, in many regards separates us from socialistic and communistic countries.  When the President begins to control the press then our freedom begins to erode.  This president, has embarked on a path that will fundamentally change our society and not for the better.  The era of big government or big brother is here and it ain’t gong to be pretty.  The press, to date has been a willing accomplice, let’s hope they finally find the courage to report without bias and question without preconception.

Duh, of course she is right.
This way he will not need his teleprompter to help him as he already knows all the questions that are coming.
It is truly getting ridiculous that so many keep defending this type of thing.

Go Helen Thomas.  It is about time someone called this inept, corrupt Chicago Mob Administration on it’s tactics.  Gibbs is so smarmy that he could have been a sideshow barker.

I believe Helen is correct. Townhall meetings are meant to have open and unaltered questions for the people. Not hand picked by the administration.

To believe that Helen “jumped the gun” is to say “I don’t care if our leaders manipulate the people and the press”

If I wanted to watch an infomercial I would have watched the ABC interview about Healthcare or Billy Mays

Kudos to Helen Thomas.  I am not a fan of hers but I am proud that her years of experience see through Obama and his naive, inexperienced, and pitiful administration.  When Obama is off the teleprompter, he stutters and stammers.  Imagine having a president who cannot speak on his own.  Maybe joining Toastmasters could help him. DelMarie

LouV, lets begin by understanding what freedom of the press is.  Freedom of the press is the right to chronicle the actions and the spoken words of the world and people in it and to do so for the greater good of us all.  It is implied, but not directly stated, that this freedom comes with the responsibility that we do it without distortion or the intent to deceive.  The freedom of the press should not be confused with the freedom of speech.  The freedom of speech gives us the right to say what is on our mind and we have no implied responsibility to do that with any type of honor what-so-ever; of course it does add to our credibility that we do so with this responsibility.  The Administration is not trying to change any of that.  The Administration is not telling Helen what she can write; they are not hindering her ability to report on the actions or spoken words in any way.  Nor are they asking her to distort or deceive what she believes to be true.  What the Administration is doing, and what has Helen’s fires burning, is spreading the message of the Administration under the guise of a reporter asking a question.  She believes that this is a form of heresy; an infomercial trying to be a news conference.  To which I said, so what.  It is not about the method but about the message.  Because in our culture every word is broken down and expunged upon by every talking head on the planet.  And it is in those forums that we ask our questions.  Sometimes they go without answers and sometimes the Administration addresses these concerns themselves.  Our leaders are held accountable for their words and their actions every day in every way.

Oh young journalist, you have so much to learn. So naive! Helen Thomas is a fossil true! But lucky for you she is looking out for the future journalistic integrity of the next generation. You know there was a time when we held administrations accountable for their bullshit. When you ask? since the birth of this great nation to 2008. Presi-Deity obama has been excluded.$$$$ Not for long!
Just print the story, save your oppinions for you little blogs!

Ms.Helen,
Please keep speaking out the true. It is time the news people say like it is. The true.
Wish they have done this during the campaign.
Obama does stage the Town Hall.
The last Town Hall Meeting, he had a woman come up to him and he said that she has cancer and no insurance. She was also a campaign staff volunteer member that works with him during his campaign.
Now tell me that was not stage. He can’t speak without his Teleprompters that why they have to fix things up to make him fool people with him slick talk.
We need people like Ms.Helen Thomas.
During the Civil war there was a famous lady. The press of different newspapers did not take time to really find out the real true. They report hear say. They trash this famous lady and it when to court.
This is what she said to the men of court:
Gentlemen of the Jury,
“You have measured the honor in which you hold the wives and daughters of you city by the verdict just rendered. To the defendants I would say, if the gentlemen who fought for this state during the civil war conducted their defense with as much cowardice as the defense has been conducted against one lone little woman in this suit, I don’t wonder that they were defeated. I will withdraw from the courtroom immediately, so as to give one or all of you gentlemen who are such gallant defenders of women’s honor a chance to further your cowardice by shooting me in the back if you so choose.
These suits make newspapers history. They gave to newspapers a greater concern for investigation and a lack of trustfulness which had been held in the word of someone else.  More than 50 newspapers was suit. The amount was from $500.00 to $27.500.00 Because of this suit every newspaper is today equipped with a morgue.
American need to stand up what is right.
It is call FREEDOM OF SPEECH.

The comment by “Jim” might be more persuasive if he knew how to spell “populace.”

So much for corruption in Iran !!

way to go helen!!!!!! at last somebody has the guts to say what is right. I bet you this not broadcast in cnn, abc and nbc.

So now Helen Thomas is too confused and disruptive to continue in the press corps?  Kinda like fired Inspector General, Gerald Walpin? His findings of misuse of federal grant money by Sacramento Mayor, Kevin Johnson, led Kevin’s buddy, Obama, to fire Walpin due to a lack in confidence in Walpin and as well as appearing confused at a meeting. Well, I guess that took care of Kevin’s problem!

I say good for Helen Thomas.  She asks the hard questions and she should be commended for it. She has earned the right to be heard, through her honest reporting and her integrity.  Obama needs to be more transparent and stop trying to manipulate press conferences.

showoff! he’s been doing that all day. what a showoff.He won the lottery! Lucky bastard.Keep it down! You kids are too loud! Keep it down. Tiffany Jewellery What do you know? you don’t know the half of it?Be quiet.Talk back. links of london Doesn’t matter what you say. links of london You can’t always get what you want.You could say that too.Thanks for coming to help on such a short notice.The worst is yet to come.You think I like it like this!

That is what all governments are doing. No bother it. Enjoy football, enjoy football jersey, enjoy life.

“Hooray for Helen, it’s about time someone started asking them some tough questions.  It’s like that staged White House event on ABC news relating to Health Care, none of those questions were random.  I had a relative in the audience who has a major health problem and she had a legimate question and she was ingnored because they wanted professional asking question.  What a joke, when is America going to wakeup.

Maybe the U.S. should not be so quick to admonish China and Iran for shunning the press.  It doesn’t matter how it is done - violently or smoothly - the outcome is similar.

Freedom of speech and transparency should be given the same level of importance as popularity and political gain.

I think it’s the silliest notion of all to equate Twitter, Facebook and Youtube with the Media.  They are forms of media (i.e. the internet).  Let’s not pretend that there’s any integrity there.  They’d better vet those questions.

Probably won’t be long until she “has” to retire.  You go Helen before you it’s a recommendation of the gov’t that you do so.

Go Helen Go! You were right to question/challenge Bush’s cromies & you’re right to question/challenge Obama’s. When are people going to wake up & stop worshipping politicians? She’s absolutely right. The question-- & the hug-- at the townhall meeting appeared staged. it should be investigated. The press is by & large throwing softballs at Obama-- at best. The politicans are there as servants to the electorate. It should NEVER be about celebrity in a free state. That’s a very dangerous road to go down in a Democracy.

congrats to helen for recognizing that obama is the worst president ever

what’s amazing to me is the blatant hypocracy of the lefties here...they sure ate it up when she doing this to the bush admin but now that she’s doing it their boy they’re screaming for her retirement. you guys never cease to amaze me and give us quite a chuckle.  thanks for the laugh !!!

I never cared for Helen Thomas until, finally I saw her in a total pro-public non-harnessed light over the Obama transparency. 
Thank you Helen Thomas, I feel like you are fearless.
Keep it up!!!

The whole matter of pre-selecting questions is a slippery slope that the Gibbs and his staff should not be engaging in. Leave it to Helen THomas to keep the administration honest - you can watch her in the press briefing in this video

http://www.newsy.com/videos/watchdogs_to_lapdogs

Hang in there, Helen!!!!  Please, please continue to speak out against the media control by the administration.  We want to continue to be a free America.

Okay Helen Thomas, let’s see where you go from here.  Is the press finally waking up and going to acknowledge what has been happening all along or will they retreat and sit silent again?  Obama has been alowed to walk on water far too long now.  Whatever happened to investigative journalism?  It seems to have disappeared.

helen is hot ...after saddam got interested in madeline albright, maybe he’d perk up were he here to see this!!

Where were you Helen during the GWB years?

The pendulum is about to swing in the other direction.  I sense the main stream media is in for a wide awakening!

My first thought was “what took the media so long to realize this manipulation?” What about back in March?  January?  Today?  The puppet media was so busy trying to appease their new leader that they totally ignored their responsibility, intergrity, ethics, morals, and honesty.  I think they are finally starting to see that not only have they been used, they have been lied to as well.

Helen could not be more right. It is about time someone besides FOX NEWS showed some backbone. The American public can see the bias and we are all laughing at the press. But now it looks like some one is standing up. Good for you Helen.

I thought the mainstream media had forsaken us!  Thank you Helen for standing up for the American people.  Hopefully your fellow reporters will start looking at what is ACTUALLY being said by this president to undermine democracy and our freedoms.  The American people need to know how his ideas will impact their lives.  We do not need a president or government to take away our rights.  The media must do their job to report unbiasedly or we will lose our democracy that we have been so proud of as a nation.  “We the people. .”, NOT “We the government.”

Way to Go Helen, you’re so right. The liberal media has been sleeping with Obama’s administration since the beginning. Finally you called them out and now they and some of his supporters are trying to “blow this off”

Helen you are my hereo, young or old it doesn’t matter, you asked a tough question and they hit a bump and stumbled.

Whats the deal with all the fox news talking points on this thread? Teleprompters? Every politicians use them and it hardly matters. What matters is the policy.

Does the white house control the media? Well it ain’t called the bully pulpit for nothing - the executive of all branches has the ability to shape our news - congress is too unorganized and the judiciary finds it uncouth to make statements to the press - or the public has no interest because the Supremes aren’t directly elected by us.

And then the people who want to Trash Helen Thomas.

Do you know who Helen Thomas is?

Quite rightly one of the most respected reporters in Washington for her clear non-partisan and ethic stance on the issues of public disclosure.

Press collusion with the government is a legitimate concern. Look at how no questions were asked before the Iraq war - one million Iraqi dead later we now know that Judith Miller was leaked disproven CIA reports on yellow cake uranium by Dick Cheney and the Bush Administration. She went to jail for that crime. (Not long enough for me, but anyways.)

That being said her complaint about Nico Pitney has more to do with jealousy of New Media as Nico is a Blogger who has had the best reporting on Iran on the intertubes next to Andrew Sullivan.

It makes sense to ask Nico to bring a question partly because Barack acknowledges the power of new media and because only Nico has been in contact with Iranian protesters.

He asked a basic question and Barack still ducked the question and gave the stance that he was giving the entire week - that we do not have a say in their politics and it is a situation for them to solve.

So an important issue for me is whether this was to serve a presidents policies.

On the issue of pre-screening questioners in a town hall, that is clearly over the line.

The difference between asking a reporter to bring a question beforehand and personally selection the questions you want is important because one was known and advertised as a planned question the other was not known beforehand and was not advertised as a preselected questions. The second is disingenuous and defies the definition of what we know a town hall is supposed to be.

What is worse is that the media made little mention of Bush doing prescreen his crowds his entire presidency, how Bush rarely ever took questions or for that matter had Town Halls.

The press was dandy with that situation back then why should we pay attention to these hypocrites.

I hope the press wakes up and stops using think tanks and lobbyists to shape their news because this to me is just as bad as any kind of collusion with the excutive.

They never talk about that in the corporate press because it is their problem not Obama’s problem.

So much easier to lay blame.

End of essay.

Kudos to Helen Thomas.  The only way a narcissistic President can exist is by controlling the press.  Comments from Patriots like Helen may wake up the public to what has happened in America.

Helen Thomas is the only one that has the nerve to call out the President and his administration on their attempt to control the press, it has been obvious to the general public for quite some time, and now perhaps with Helen’s lead this practice will stop.

Thomas added “It’s shocking. It’s really shocking.” There’s politics going on here!

Long, long ago politics degenerated into the theater of clamoring self interest and the notion that the major media is or has been anything but supporting actors to be scripted for the benefit of corrupt leftist politicians and their political causes would be laughable if it weren’t so tragic.

There is a reason why Reagan, Clinton, and Obama were good politicians - they were good actors and if Thomas wants to continue to be part of this play, she should shut up and wait for her lines to be written by her socialist handlers in the Whitehouse.

Any discusiion of the fact that Obama is bringing Chicago corruption to the nation would be an unwelcome interruption in the tragedy being played out.

This may be the theater of the absurd, but we can’t have actors writing their own lines or adlibbing. So, it is time for Thomas to retire, since she clearly has forgotten her place and her role.

It is good to see the majority of the posts are in favor of Helen on this one.....I think we are beginning to see some buyers remorse from the media.

The press has exhibited a total lack of journalistic integrity, and have been giving this administration a “free pass” since it won the election.  “Controlling the Press” is Helen Thomas’s complaint, but it is by the newsmedia’s granting of that “free pass” that has allowed an enviroment in which that is allowed to occur.  Wake up news media you are part of the problem.

Today we celebrate Independence Day.  I fear we may have little to celebrate in a few years if reporters like Helen Thomas fail to speak out and warn the people of this nation about what the Obamanation is doing. 
Only about 15% of our population, according to Obama’s own figures, does not have health coverage. Is this really a national crisis?  Do we really have global warming?  I doubt it. The weather patterns are the same today as they were in the 1930’s.  Ironically, the economic and political climates are also amazingly similar to those of that era, and as far as I’m concerned, we have another National Socialist leader on the rise.  Is he the Obamantion of desolation/

Does anyone remember what press conferences were like in the old Soviet Union? I see a similiarity. The press are a bunch of ditto heads in the employ of the administration.

I am beginning to see what she means.  I did not vote for the things he’s been doing.

I don’t think I will vote for him again.

Women will never be content with the Tiffany jewelry in the casket Tiffany , and they are always dreaming of a more brilliant one. And Tiffany Jewellery are caressed by numerous fair ladies all through the world for such a lie Tiffany Jewellery.