NPR Wants In The Running For Helen Thomas’ Seat

God, those folks at the National Public Radio are pushy. Not only are they constantly asking for our donations, now they want to take Helen Thomas’ seat in the White House briefing room. The Yahoo! News blog The Upshot has obtained NPR’s letter to the White House Correspondents Association Board of Directors. What the Upshot post doesn’t clarify however, is whether or not the WHCA Board will receive a sweet mug or tote bag for giving NPR what they want.

In his letter to the board, David Sweeney, the managing editor at NPR, stresses the radio stations audience size as well as their experience:

Since the 1970s, NPR has had a full-time White House correspondent. Now we have two: Scott Horsley and Ari Shapiro and two national political correspondents who also regularly cover the White House, Mara Liasson and Don Gonyea. With very few exceptions, NPR’s seat at the daily briefing is occupied by a correspondent pursuing a story or looking for information for a colleague covering national security, defense, justice, Congress, health care, and other beats.

Over the past decade, NPR has traveled with the president on every foreign trip and the great preponderance of domestic trips. Even in these difficult times, as many other news organizations are forced to cut back, NPR routinely represents the radio pool on trips other news organizations cannot take.

As of yet, most coverage of the potential successors to Thomas had left NPR out of the equation, focusing on the likes of Fox News or one of the big networks. Whether the letter from NPR puts them in the running or not, we should know who will Thomas’ seat within the next couple of weeks.

In the mean time, enjoy this terrific story about a Mississippi NPR affiliate banning Fresh Air with Terry Gross for “sexual content.” Because it’s hilarious.