BY SHERRY CONOHAN
Staff Writer
WEST LONG BRANCH — Make no mistake about it: Helen Thomas does not mince words.
And she didn’t last week when she spoke at the national convention of the Society of Professional Journalists in New York and took the White House press corps to task for not asking the hard questions of President Bush and his administration.
Nothing less than the future of our democracy rides on their performance, she said.
Thomas, who has covered nine presidents during her illustrious career, will speak at Monmouth University on Tuesday at a student seminar from 2:30-4 p.m. in Pollak Theatre, which will be open to the public. That evening she will be honored at a dinner in Woodrow Wilson Hall as the first recipient of the Monmouth University Award for Communication Excellence (MACE).
Thomas will be joined at the seminar on “Women in Journalism & Changes & Challenges in Journalism” by Linda Deutsch, a veteran Associated Press court reporter, and Fran Lewine, formerly of The Associated Press and now of CNN.
Thomas became a familiar figure in households across America when, as United Press International’s leading correspondent in Washington, she would end White House news conferences where she sat in the front row with the familiar words, “Thank you, Mr. President.”
Now a reporter for the Hearst Newspapers since the virtual demise of UPI, Thomas said for continuing to ask the tough questions, she has been relegated to the last row at White House news conferences and is never called on by President Bush.