'Thank You, Mr. President'

The relationship between presidents and the reporters who cover them is a fraught one, and there is probably no one who knows this better than Helen Thomas, who has covered every president since John F. Kennedy. As "dean of the White House Press Corps," she challenged Nixon on Watergate, Clinton on Lewinsky, and, most recently, Bush on Iraq. For that, the Bush administration banished her to the back of the pressroom after she continued to press the president on his reasons for going to war. (Article continued below...)

In Rory Kennedy's new documentary, "Thank You, Mr. President: Helen Thomas at the White House," (August 18 at 9 pm on HBO), Thomas talks frankly, and comically, about chasing presidents in her high heels, getting scooped on her own engagement announcement, and, of course, her altercations with the Bush administration. Since May, Thomas, now 88, has been absent from her current role as a columnist for Hearst newspapers (she had previously been a correspondent for United Press International) while she recovers from a colon infection, but she answered some questions via e-mail from Newsweek's Jesse Ellison shortly before her release from the hospital on Thursday, August 14. Excerpts:

NEWSWEEK: How has journalism changed in the years you've been covering the White House?
Thomas: The whole transformation into electronic journalism in terms of instantaneousness and brevity, and too little faith in reporting on the scene, makes me fear the corporate heads have reduced the possibility of seeking the truth. I have always known that journalism is a business, but has a greater mantra, a higher ideal of keeping the American people informed. You can't have a democracy without an informed people.

Has access to presidents changed in that time?
Access has diminished greatly. Access on the part of the press—or loss of access—sometimes has legitimacy in terms of the security of the powers that be. But sometimes limitation of access to the horse's mouth can lead to distortion. It's best to hear what the president says, instead of a spokesperson—but these days are gone forever. Years ago, we walked down the street throwing questions at Presidents Kennedy and Johnson, and that was true access.

What is the role of the press today? Or at least, what should it be?
To let the American people know what is being done in their name. To undercover unnecessary and unfair secrecy aimed at protecting the manipulators of the truth. The role of the press is to seek the truth—and that's what should be done.