NPR, Fox News Vie For Helen Thomas' Seat

Published July 30, 2010

I won’t call it a battle of good versus evil. No, I’ll leave that up to pundits. But I will call it a battle of fair-and-balanced news versus entertainment news.

"You there, the fair and balanced one!" (AP)

"You there, the fair and balanced one..." (AP)

It appears NPR is up against Fox (and Bloomberg) for a front-row seat in the White House press room. You know, the seat vacated rather dishonorably by Helen Thomas, who sat there for, like, 60 years.

I won’t tell you who I’m rooting for.

Dylan Stableford, a columnist for a Hollywood news site called The Wrap, reports the White House Correspondents Association will take a vote on Sunday. The mere possibility of a seat for Fox has caused a small outcry on the Web.

One group called CREDO Action has petitioned the association to give it to NPR – and not, under any circumstances, Fox.

“FOX News is not a legitimate news organization,” CREDO political director Becky Bond wrote in a letter sent to WHCA board members. “It produces conservative propaganda under the guise of news, and has been instrumental in the organization of the Tea Party movement. If we look at recent weeks alone, FOX has been involved in race-baiting smear campaigns targeting Shirley Sherrod and the Department of Justice that were planted by right-wing operatives. This is not the work of a news organization. This is right-wing propaganda.”

She continued: “NPR has been providing public interest coverage of the presidency and the White House for almost four decades. NPR clearly deserves to sit in the front row of the White House press briefing room. FOX does not.”

Does it matter who gets the front row, though? Is it just symbolic, or does a reporter’s location in the press room afford some kind of advantage? Update: Twitter Kevin Gilnack (@kgilnack) says:

According to @AAUW, it does “…Gibbs only occasionally farms out questions as deep as the fourth row” http://bit.ly/dyNffx

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