Okay, Fox lost. Well, not completely, they did get an upgrade to the front row (AP's old seat) but at least they didn't get Helen's old seat. It seems rather petty to be fighting for the best seat in the house, (kind of like little kids) but there is something symbolic, something special about that seat and I, for one, am delighted with the results.
Other represented in the front row are: NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, Reuters and the Associated Press.
http://www.multichannel.com/...
The board of the White House Correspondents Assocation (WHCA) has decided to move the Associated Press to the frontrow center seat in the White House briefing room. It gets the seat that had been held by UPI's Helen Thomas, who retired after her remarks suggesting Jews get out of Palestine were roundly criticized.
Moveon.org was circulating a petition (http://pol.moveon.org/nprvsfox/?id=22165-14413344-u_r5Rdx&t=3 ) over the weekend to try and get the White House Correspondents Association to give Helen Thomas' front row center seat at White House briefings to NPR. But as important to the group is that it not go to Fox.
"They [Fox] simply don't deserve the best seat in the White House briefing room-a seat held for years by journalist Helen Thomas until she retired recently," the group said in an e-mail solicitation Friday.
Fox did not get the seat, but it got the upgrade to the front row over Bloomberg and NPR bids. "The board ultimately was persuaded by Fox's length of service and commitment to the White House television pool," said the association.