Veteran political reporter Helen Thomas lambasted the elusive and cryptic nature of President Bush and his administration last night during a special forum that addressed the responsibility of the media to its citizens and the shape this role will take as the president continues his push for an attack on Iraq.
The discussion, sponsored by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Humanities, Arts and Sciences, featured Thomas along with Charles Stewart and David Thorburn, two Margaret MacVicar Fellows at MIT. Each panelist spoke heatedly about the importance of the press and its potential ability to prevent a preemptive war in Iraq, during ‘America At War? A Conversation with Helen Thomas’ at the Bartos Theatre in the MIT Media Lab.
Thomas, a former member of the White House press corps for more than six decades who has covered the last eight presidents, stated the democratic future of our country is in jeopardy when its citizens remain uninformed.
‘Where is the outrage over preemptive war?’ she asked the audience of college students, members of academia and media representatives. ‘To question, to dissent is not unpatriotic. It is unpatriotic to roll over these issues for an election.’
Six press conferences over two years Bush’s record is not true to democracy, Thomas said, questioning the president’s reticence toward the press.
‘Press conferences are the only forum in our society when the president can be questioned. It is democratic to have a free press, to ask questions,’ she said. ‘It is up to us to make our superiors and our leaders accountable.’
同意托马斯的观点,索伯恩,director of the MIT Communications Forum, offered a glimmer of hope to the somber discussion. Comparing the current opposition to war in Iraq with the anti-war movement during Vietnam, he implied the press should be credited for creating such a strong resistance to an invasion.
‘The opposition to Iraq is bubbling now, more so than there ever had been to Vietnam,’ he said. He referred to the tremendous amount of editorials published during Congress’ vote to support the president in October as responsible for relaying these sentiments.
The media has helped create a ‘sophisticated discourse on the subject of war that has been lacking in the past,’ said Stewart, an MIT professor who specializes in American politics and behavior.
Closing with a statement that recalled the fundamentals of journalism, Thomas said, ‘People can handle the truth and they deserve no less. We need to keep people informed and democracy alive.’
