"THANK YOU, MR. PRESIDENT": HELEN THOMAS KNEW A GOOD CLOSING LINE

HELEN THOMAS 

August 4, 1920-July 20, 2013 

The HELEN THOMAS 
in her office 
in the White House when 
Ronald Reagan was President 

In Memoriam, today, here and here and here 

See also 

HELEN THOMAS TAKES ON BARACK OBAMA, here 

THE PACK TURNS ON HELEN THOMAS, here 

KATHARINE GRAHAM b. June 16, 1917

KATHARINE GRAHAM 

June 16, 1917-July 17, 2001 

KATHARINE ("KAY") GRAHAM 

"Legendary" Publisher (of Watergate fame especially) 

and later Chief Executive of the Washington Post 

photographed in the Post's headquarters 

Washington, D.C. 

Winner, Pulitzer Prize for Biography or 

Autobiography, 1998 

for PERSONAL HISTORY (1997) 

Citation here 

Gone almost ten years now 

A sampling of the (rival) New York Times' obituary: 

Mrs. Graham was a socialite mother of four when her husband, Philip L. Graham, committed suicide in 1963. Her father had given Mr. Graham control of The Post and when the latter died, his widow found herself in a mysterious thicket of corporate politics dominated by men unaccustomed to a woman in the boardroom and highly skeptical of her ability to run a newspaper. 

Much more from the New York Times here 

Some appreciations from the Washington Post here 

And from NPR here 

With a bit from Ben Bradlee here 

And one obituary from the other side of the pond here  

JOURNALISTS OF THE WORLD! ELDER BROTHER IS DEFINITELY TRACKING * YOU *

TARGETING

THE

MESSENGER

THE MEDIA DISPERSE

AT THE CLOSE OF THE

17th CONGRESS OF THE

CHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY

Beijing, October 2007

Outside the Great Hall of the People

Another Sunday. The third "jasmine" Sunday of a massive security presence and a ratcheting up of pressure on journalists. No report of beatings this time, but preemptive intimidation, some detentions, and a threat of expulsions.

So the messenger is not being shot, but is definitely being targeted, and tracked.

WEN JIABAO, WEBCASTS, WHISTLES, & WASHOUTS: JASMINE SUNDAY #2

JASMINE 

SUNDAY 

#2 

CHINESE PREMIER  

WEN JIABAO 

(Photographed at Harvard) 

(A Beijing photograph is here) 

On Sunday, February 27, 2011, Wen Jiabao, "Grandpa Wen," the smiling face of the leadership of the People's Republic of China, went on line in a big way. On the eve of the annual meeting of the National People's Congress, Premier Wen took questions in a special webcast, and made news: Beijing would not push the economy quite so hard; he was mindful that rapid price rises hurt the people. 

Out on the street, the story was different. For the second Sunday in a row any whiff of jasmine was smothered; any possible protest was washed out -- literally, this time, by street cleaning machines and a water truck -- and whistled away -- by incessant police whistles. 

And journalists -- apparently especially photojournalists and videojournalists -- were harassed and detained and even physically assaulted. 

So there was no protest to speak of or to see -- China was not Tunisia or Egypt -- and the regime seems either prudent or paranoid -- someone in authority still thinking A Single Spark Can Start a Prairie Fire? 

"DRUG-CRAZED MOBS CANCEL R.I. FESTIVAL..."

THE SEVENTIES

Second in a Series

RIDING THE "T"

(GREATER BOSTON, 1971)

"DRUG-CRAZED MOBS

CANCEL R.I. FESTIVAL..."

JIMMY BRESLIN TURNS EIGHTY

JIMMY BRESLIN

b. October 17, 1930

JIMMY BRESLIN

HARVARD COMMENCEMENT

CLASS DAY SPEAKER, 1971

A columnist and author, in 1986, Jimmy Breslin was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for Commentary, for "columns which consistently champion ordinary citizens."

TWENTY-THREE MOSTLY "FORMERS" SPEAK UP FOR MEDIA FREEDOM IN CHINA

TWENTY-THREE 

MOSTLY "FORMERS" 

("PARTY ELDERS") 

DEMAND 

FREEDOM OF SPEECH 

IN CHINA; 

CRITICIZE PROPAGANDA ORGANS 

LI CHANGCHUN 

POLITBURO STANDING COMMITTEE MEMBER 

responsible for the media, and overseer of the Propaganda Department, described by the letter of the twenty-three as "invisible black hands," censoring even Premier Wen Jiabao. 

THE PACK TURNS ON HELEN THOMAS

THE PACK TURNS ON 

HELEN THOMAS 

HELEN THOMAS 

IN REAGAN'S TIME 

PIONEER, GADFLY, 

LONG-TIME WHITE HOUSE 

CORRESPONDENT 

AND THEN COLUMNIST 

"RETIRES" 

HELEN THOMAS TAKES ON OBAMA, here 

NIXON GO TO CHINA? NETANYAHU --

NIXON GO TO CHINA?

NETANYAHU GO ??

OBAMA CHIMES IN

Picture this: The cliché heard 'round the media echo chamber.

If Richard Nixon can go to China, perhaps Bibi Netanyahu can -- Fill in your chief wish for an Israeli prime minister.

For a recent example: "Just as it took a Richard Nixon to go to China, it will take a Netanyahu to enforce a peace settlement that will require a withdrawal from most of the West Bank settlements." -- Kishore Mahbubani, Japan Times, Sunday, May 10, 2009

But Benjamin ("Bibi") Netanyahu has been here before, and so have we.

He was Prime Minister the first time from 1996-99. "He wants to be Nixon going to China and still be honored by the John Birch Society," we were told. By Thomas L. Friedman, in the May 19, 1998, New York Times. Friedman was asking, "Who Is Bibi?"

We might ask, why do we keep falling back on this cliché?

Today we learn that Barack Obama is now also on record with the Nixon-Goes-To-China analogy for "Bibi":

"Israeli analysts said Mr Obama had effectively given Mr Netanyahu the choice of alienating his Right-wing coalition allies and imperilling his fragile government or alienating Israel's most powerful ally.

"But Mr Obama, in an interview with regional newspapers, said Mr Netanyahu's Right-wing stance was an advantage. He compared him to the former President Richard Nixon whose impeccable Right-wing credentials made possible his outreach to Chairman Mao's China in the early 1970s."