The abrupt retirement of the doyenne of the White House press corps has led to a spat between two news organisations over her front row seat in the briefing room.
Helen Thomas, 89, retired on June 7 from newspaper publisher Hearst, where she wrote an opinion column, after coming under fire for controversial remarks about Israel.
With her retirement, Thomas gave up her seat in the centre of the front row of the room where the White House spokesman gives his daily briefings and the president makes occasional appearances.
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Two organisations stake claim
Bloomberg and Fox News have now both staked a claim to her seat.
In letters to the board of the White House Correspondents Association (WHCA), Fox, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. and Bloomberg, the news agency founded by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, outlined their case.
Bill Sammon, vice president of news for Fox News, cited verbal assurances from the WHCA in 2007 that Fox would get the seat on Thomas's retirement.
"Now that Helen has retired, I'm hopeful the WHCA will make good on those assurances and approve Fox's long-expected move to that seat," he said in the letter which was obtained by Yahoo News!
Fox 'relegated to second row'
Sammon noted that the other major television networks -- ABC, CBS, CNN and NBC -- have front row seats while "Fox is relegated to the second row."
Sammon also argued that Fox, as a "general interest news organisation", is more deserving than Bloomberg, which he described as a "financial niche news outlet".
Bloomberg executive editor Albert Hunt and Washington bureau chief Michael Tackett rejected Fox's characterisation of their news agency in a letter of their own to the WHCA board.
"We write about matters financial and non-financial," they said.
'Journalistic contribution paramount'
"Bloomberg is the fastest growing news organisation in the world.
"We don't believe the seat should be awarded on the basis of seniority, ideology, tradition... or discussions held years ago: it's not something to be conferred," they continued.
"It should be on merit, the journalistic contribution that the occupant of that valued seat will make to the briefings and informing the public."
The nine-member WHCA board next meets on July 16 and will begin the process of reallocating the briefing room seating.
