Helen Thomas, the opinionated White House correspondent who used her seat in the front row of history to grill 10 presidents and often exasperate them, lost her storied perch in a flap over saying Israelis should get "out of Palestine".
Ms. Thomas (89), who made her name as a bulldog for the United Press International and was a pioneer for women in journalism, abruptly retired as a columnist for Hearst News Service . The announcement, in a terse statement by Hearst, came after videotaped remarks she made to an independent filmmaker spread virally through the Internet.
She apologised, but White House spokesman Robert Gibbs denounced her comments as "offensive and reprehensible". Her press corps colleagues with the White House Correspondents Association issued a rare admonishment calling them "indefensible".
Ms. Thomas, a daughter of Lebanese immigrants, joined the UPI in 1943 and began covering the White House for the wire service in 1960. Fiercely competitive, she became the first female White House bureau chief for a news service when UPI named her to the position in 1974.
She also was the first female officer at the National Press Club , where women had once been barred as members.
