My Favorite Mistake: Helen Thomas Talks About The Mistakes She Could Never Make

"My Favorite Mistake" is a new biweekly series in which writer Seema Kalia interviews various luminaries about the one mistake that taught them the most.

We asked journalist Helen Thomas to be our first interview subject for this column so we could learn something about her professional past that was particularly memorable - something that might have left such a significant imprint that it informed how she did her work as a reporter from thereon.

She, being Helen Thomas, questioned the entire premise of the interview. Stating, in short, that as a political reporter, she simply isn't allowed to make mistakes:

Helen Thomas: I don't have any mistakes to tell you about.

Seema Kalia: You don't have any recollection of any time you didn't do something well?

No, not that I know of. I don't say I'm perfect, and I do say I've made mistakes, but nothing that's colossal.

The spirit of this interview is really to explore the role of mistake-making as part of the growth of people who are really successful at what they do.

No, no, no...you're looking for something else; you want people to flagellate themselves.

There are many people I'd like to see flagellated in Washington, but you are not among them.

Well, I can't think of any [mistakes] that would be earth-shaking. Everybody makes mistakes. I don't know any reporter that hasn't done some Monday morning quarter-backing and wondered if they could have done something better; should they have asked a different question? But one thing about our business -- one thing about journalism -- is if you make a mistake, you're finished. Your mistake is on the front page and you don't have a job the next day. That's the way I've always seen it, and that's how it happens. I think we pay a higher penalty for our mistake than anyone else because it's so glaring when we do.

Do you think the political figures would do better to admit mistakes sooner, like when they make them?

I think they know that. I think most politicians would definitely expose missteps in their past, put it on the table. They would be considered very courageous and they'd go on from there. [And] I think it eases the pain; it's out there so it isn't a great exposé. Then it's left to the judgment of people. And people are usually forgiving, if it isn't a monumental mistake.

Is the American public too forgiving of its public figures?

Not in my opinion. You can forgive, but you don't have to elect them. [Laughs.]

Well, election is probably the favorite form of forgiveness for a politician, isn't it?

I'm sure that would weigh in for a lot of them [laughs]. I wish we knew more about our leaders as they're going in [to office] rather than coming out. I think we should have known more about the President and so forth. You need to know more. Much more.

Well, whose mistake was that?

It's ours. It's our job to probe.

What would you say to a young reporter who, in their exuberance, published something that turns out to not be true?

If it isn't too earth-shaking, then I would assure them, "This is what you did wrong..." and give them a second chance. But I don't think you get another chance if you make a mistake involving a big story.

Do you think technology is changing that? That a good reporter will always find a venue because there are so many media outlets now?

No, but I do think it is kind of sad when everybody who owns a laptop thinks they're a journalist and doesn't understand the ethics. We do have to have some sense of what's right and wrong in this job. Of how far we can go. We don't make accusations without absolute proof. We're not prosecutors. We don't assume.

So if there's this amateur league of journalists out there, trying to do what you do...

It's dangerous.

What makes it dangerous? Isn't more information always better?

Not necessarily. Not if it isn't true. It could be out there and it could really muck up the whole picture. I'm not trying to suppress information; I'm just saying you have to be very careful.

My advice is simply try, as best you can, to only write the truth and try to check everything, and I think you just hope for the best. And, certainly, if someone gives you a story, I think you have to look a gift horse in the mouth. You have to find out why they're peddling it to you.

Always question why anybody does things. That's probably good advice for anybody.

Come back every other Wednesday for more installments of "My Favorite Mistake".

Comments

[lungfish]

I recall speaking at a symposium at George Washington U regarding Interstellar Travel and related topics and lo and behold, Helen was in the front row. I was flattered and impressed that she would be there, of all places...

I have always been impressed by her professionalism and ethics. I wish that the many other journalists that I have dealt with both directly and otherwise were cut from similar cloth. We might have a very different country today if they were.

[JimDandy]

"Your mistake is on the front page and you don't have a job the next day. That's the way I've always seen it, and that's how it happens."

Does "Dan Rather" ring a bell, Helen? How many months did it take until he lost his job?

Thomas is just another typical lying "journalist".

[smokeystover39]

"Front row" Helen knows how to bust balls. Keep doin' it MAMA!!

[samuraijack]

Helen Thomas is a giant in a room full of dweebs. She stands alone and have more guts than most media whores, which she is not. Jack Out.

[Danny]

Helen Thomas' columns are available weekly in the Falls Church News Press

www.fcnp.com

[Wickywoo]

Heed her words, Helen Thomas has proven herself time and again to be the platinum standard by which all reporters should measure themselves

We love you Helen!

[emncaity]

We're poised at a unique moment in our national history, when you can look around a White House press conference and see the likes of Helen Thomas out there at the same time you have the corporate right-wing­-talking-p­oints parroters from Fox News, a gay porn model who got reporter creds, a planted question or two...sheesh, it's hard not to feel us slipping into hell. Who's ever going to replace somebody like this? For one thing, who would ever employ somebody like this again?

[Stevelagain]

Ouch, with all the false accusations were hear many times a day from progressives "would be reporters on Bush's every breath".....I think you folks don't realize she just put you in your place for not being honest and not having a sense of what's right.

[wharfrat]

Is it possible for Helen to run for President? She sure has the cajones .... And, she is smart!

[themodernleader]

I watched President Kennedy's news conferences. Helen Thomas would inevitabily demand the President's attention, then would ask a penetratiog question which showed she had thoroughly done her homework. Kennedy learned to reflect potentially damaging questions through humor and, inferentially, flattery of this persistent, fair, and courageous newswoman.
Her questions and President Kennedy's thoughtful responses made us proud and secure with ourselves as Americans for learning from the interaction of a great reporter and growing, developing chief executive in the Golden Age of the American Republic.

[nunzia]

The wonderful comments here, recognizing Thomas' superb - and now rare - journalism almost rstores my faith in our citizenry. I am really happy to see this response from so many of you.

[GH]

Helen not admitting her mistakes by not asking Clinton:

- How many innocents did you kill (984 cruise missiles,thousands of cluster bombs)?

- Why did you lie about Kosovo? Said that as many as 200,000 may had been killed in a genocide. Wasn't so. Less than 6,000. And you still didn't get UN resolution authorizing it.

- Mr. Clinton.Carter and Mandela condemned your war in Kosovo as a disgrace. Helen, did you and the media make a mistake by not informing the public?

- Your promise of "never again," after Rwanda? The conflict which started next door, DR Congo in 1998 claimed over 4 1/2 million lives, the largest loss of life in a single conflict since WW II.

- What about James Riady? In your WH 20+ times, this old friend of yours from Ark,ended up with the largest fine ever handed down from DOJ.

- What about Hiv/Aids in Africa. You ignored it, as the pandemic was unfolding? Reagan may not have yet truly understood, but you did, Mr. Clinton - and millions died, because as David Corn, "The Nation," suggested, "It didn't poll well."

- What about the economy, and lives of millions of Americans, Mr. Clinton? When the bubble popped March 2000, hell broke loose.Millions lost their jobs, savings, insurance. The progressive economist Dean Baker, said that financial leadership was the worst since Hoover.

- About that projected surplus Mr. President, any idiot should understand that the reason the first $982 billion dissapeared (2000-2003) was caused by the collapse of your economy. Please stop blaming it on someone else? He's got enough problems.

- What about airport security, Mr. Clinton? For goodness sake, you put Gore in charge of the Commission. Made reccomendations. Airline industry sent in the campaign [bribe]money, and you guys backed off all of it.Nothing was enacted. Mmm 9/11? Airports.

- SS Reform? You/Gore both told us repeatedly that we were headed for financial crisis,yet nothing got passed.

- Immigration reform? Your commission chaired by Barbara Jordan had great ideas, much like Sen. Reid's 1993 proposal (makes Tancredo look angelic) - and you walked away from it?

[Slpeasy]

Watching Helen Thomas being purposely ignored at one of G. Bush's sham "news conferences" makes me both angry and sad. Angry that this president is so fearful of Ms. Thomas and sad that the "system" rewards those who ask the easy questions. Many times I have watched the British House of Commons on Tuesdays (on CSPAN) when the Prime Minister must take questions from his fellow members. Can anyone imagine our president even attempting such a thing?? No, instead of that we have an completely cocooned and isolated president who can't even handle questions from reporters like Ms. Thomas.

[arabbit]

Ya gotta love her. She's got guts.

[LadyAva]

I love Helen Thomas!! A true patriot with unfeasibly huge cojones. If only the spineless press corp followed her lead, the Chimp and his fellow Repiglicans wouldn't have gotten away with as much as they have. Shame on the press corp, they all suck. Thank heavens for the inimitable Ms. Thomas! You are a true American!