a minor journalistic incident arose recently when albert Eisele, editor of The Hill, called Helen Thomas, a long time White House correspondent and currently a syndicated columnist with Hearst Newspapers, called her on the phone. Thomas, who has been around for 1,000 years (at least since JFK was in the White House) is described as being a long-term friend of The Hill’s editor.
During the course of their conversation, Thomas told Eisele that she thought that Dick Cheney wanted to run for president and added, "The day Dick Cheney is going to run for president, I’ll kill myself. all we need is one more liar".
Eisele quoted "his friend’s" comments in his Hill column. Nothing much happened until details of their conversation made its way onto the Drudge Report. Thomas was then deluged by emails from Drudge readers, many of which contained the predictable offers of the use of a gun so that the Hearst columnist would be able to carry out her threat of suicide should the situation arise.
Thomas was outraged at Eisele for taking advantage of her by publishing her remarks which she considered to be a rant by a friend to another friend. In a further Hill column entitled, "My affair with Helen", Eisele defended his actions by saying that when he talks to people he assumes that they are speaking on the record unless it is specifically stated otherwise. although he praised Thomas for asking tough questions to presidents during the course of her long career, albert Eisele made no apologies for his use of what Helen Thomas thought was a private conversation between friends. Eisele was quoted in World Net Daily as laughing when he said, "Nobody has thinner skin than reporters".
Even though there is some truth about reporters having thin skin and notwithstanding the fact that the Bush-bashing, Republican-hating Thomas is well past her sell-by date, she was right and Eisele was wrong.
Reasonably intelligent people, especially those who are used to dealing with the media, know that when a journalist calls, no matter how friendly they are, the conversation is always "on the record" unless it is specifically stated to be otherwise. However journalists, just like other people, have friends and associates that they talk to on a personal level from time to time and many of these people are fellow journalists. To apply the notion that Thomas should have known that what she said to a longtime friend might wind up in print was absurd.
We’re not talking about an investigative journalist trying to dig up some dirt or illegal activity on the part of another reporter. It was merely Helen Thomas’ opinion that Eisele was looking for. It’s not too much to expect a "friend" to have advised Thomas that he was looking for quotes and that their conversation was on the record.
In addition to being thin skinned, it also appears that some journalists have too high an opinion of themselves.