Farewell to Helen

One of the nation's most storied journalists is leaving her front-row seat in the White House briefing room. Though she is 89 years-old, Helen Thomas is not exiting due to age. Rather, the swift end to a long career comes amidst controversy.

In a video posted on RabbiLIVE.com, Thomas says that Israeli Jews should, "Get the hell out of Palestine" and "go home" to "Poland" and "Germany." The comments, while outrageous for anyone, are especially upsetting coming from a member of the White House press corps.

Patrick Gavin at Politico put together a great piece on the White House press's reaction to Thomas. It chronicles her jump from journalist and news reporter to columnist in 2000 and how her peers noticed a difference. Despite the shift, her status at the White House remained unchanged. She retained her place in the briefing room, though her questions oozed with opinion and slant, like this question featured in the Politico article:

“The initial reaction to the flotilla massacre, deliberate massacre, an international crime, was pitiful. What do you mean you regret something that should be so strongly condemned, and if any other nation in the world had done it, we would have been up in arms? What is this ironclad relationship where a country that deliberately kills people."

There is a place for columnists in the media. They provide a spark to conversation and debate while giving a voice to what may be a minority opinion. The place for such opinion and advocacy, however, is not in the White House press corps nor in any form of news journalism. As citizens, we rely on journalists to report the news not create news of their own with shocking comments.

From a simple PR standpoint, the brand of journalism took a hit with Thomas's comment. As a result of her place in the briefing room, Thomas was still regarded by many as a journalist, rather than a columnist. In an age when fewer and fewer people trust newspapers (Pew surveys show that only 31 percent of people believe the news media has a positive effect on the country), the appearance of another biased "journalist" does not help.

So while it is sad to see a woman who did so much for female journalists end her career on a sour note, this day should have come years ago.

(File Photo: Getty Images)

Toyota's PR Plans Made Public

The Washington Post reports that Toyota was in the process of building a PR plan to discredit witnesses testifying against the embattled auto maker. From the Post:

Toyota officials sought to develop a public relations campaign to attack the credibility of key witnesses who have testified before Congress about acceleration problems with the company's cars, according to documents provided to the House committee investigating the automaker.

The effort was based in part on polling conducted for Toyota by Joel Benenson, President Obama's chief pollster. His poll questioned the integrity of the witnesses: Sean Kane, a Massachusetts safety consultant, and David Gilbert, an auto technology professor at Southern Illinois University Carbondale.

Congressional investigators have demanded to know from company officials whether a campaign to debunk or discredit their witnesses was put into action.

The company says it never produced advertisements based on the polling. Still, plans for the campaign have drawn the ire of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which, upon learning of them, told the automaker to hand over all related documents.

Public relations is dual in its nature, for it is both proactive and reactive. Toyota decided that enough time had been spent on the defense and was hoping to spur some offense. While it would be unwise to condemn Toyota for a PR plan they did not ultimately create, conducting polling on negative messaging about vocal critics was an unwise move.

In a crisis like Toyota is facing, a company's best PR move is to remain transparent and honest. Honesty is not smearing witnesses' names and reputations. Honesty is not conducting polling on negative messages that contain misleading statements or half-truths. Thus, while Toyota tried to go on the offensive, it will once again find its PR department on the defensive.