Posted by chicagomedia.org on April 03, 2009 at 12:30:15:
ABC 7 Chicago's Charles Thomas Covers Chi-Town Politics
By LeAlan M. Jones | N'Digo Magazine
After Veteran Political Reporter Andy Shaw retired at the end of January, Charles Thomas picked up the red-hot political beat. Here, N'Digo contributor LeAlan M. Jones shadows the seasoned reporter.
In the late 1960s, in Webster's Grove, Missouri, a small town outside of St. Louis, a young man began asking difficult questions about his newly integrated high school, and the reason the world itself seemed to be as it was. There were no African American cheerleaders, but predominately black basketball and football teams. The young man and his African American classmates had to walk two miles to school, while their white counterparts rode the school bus down the same road.
None of this seemed fair.
The student didn't only wrestle with his continuous questions internally, they bubbled over and he put them on paper. He was looking for answers - the bottom line. The written thoughts led him to write and publish his own newsletter where he pointedly voiced his concerns and commented about the school's most recent changes. His perspective resonated with his classmates and agitated the school's administration.
The budding journalist's self-published newsletters were ultimately the catalyst for a mass student demonstration against school policy that led to another election of student body officers. The young man who started it all initially lost his bid for president, but won in a recount after he uncovered a technicality in the electoral process.
The young reporter's zeal to combat inequality became so effective and contagious that administrators from the school unceremoniously dismissed him.
Thomas has worked as a professional journalist since 1973, shortly after his graduation from the University of Missouri's School of Journalism.
Thomas joined ABC 7 News in 1991 as a general assignment reporter after working for several years as a Midwest Correspondent for ABC News in the Chicago and St. Louis bureaus. Thomas has traveled to all 50 states and to five continents during his journalism career, always bringing a Chicago perspective to the stories he covers.
The renegade junior reporter is now 57-years-old and in his 35th year of professional broadcast journalism.
And, of course, he was elevated to the coveted post of political reporter during one of the most historical and pivotal times in local and national politics.
Though you may not have known his history, Chicago ABC-7's Charles Thomas is someone you probably already know.
He's wiser and more insightful than his younger self, yet he still has the passion to ask the tough questions and to uncover the complicated answers.
Getting the Scoop
"When they want to go on message, they have agendas; they want to say something to the public," Thomas says, referencing his experience in covering politics. He adds, "There is some value to being on message. ... It's also a part of their political agenda. They're trying to get re-elected."
And therefore, the job can sometimes be a little awkward. Take, for example, during a recent day's work when Thomas followed Congresswoman Melissa Bean to an event at a feeding center in west suburban Hoffman Estates. Congresswoman Bean is in attendance to talk about the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and Thomas is there to ask her opinion regarding Illinois Junior Senator Roland Burris's alleged omission of key details surrounding his fundraising efforts for Rod Blagojevich.
If knowledge of this contact were known during Blagojevich's impeachment proceedings, Burris would have lacked support for a United States Senate seat. Burris' disclosure potentially impacted all democratic house members, especially if he was forced to resign the Senate seat.
Ideally, Thomas would be in Hoffman Estates covering the feeding center and how Bean's constituents will be impacted by federal legislation. But this is politics, and he will have to ask her other pressing questions about Burris' blunder. As an Illinois Democrat, Bean's perspective is vital.
"We don't live in a perfect world; this thing that's happened to Roland Burris can effect all of this. ... It's a bigger impact and its today's news," Thomas explains.
The reporter's cell-phone and Blackberry navigate him to the next story as he departs the west suburbs. He's caught between stories: Congressmen Jesse Jackson Jr. and Congressman Bobby Rush have events scheduled within minutes of each other talking. Both politicians will address the trickle-down economics of federal aid to their constituents. Instead, Thomas covers neither and, instead, decides to attend a press conference at the Chicago Federation of Labor. There, Congressman Danny K. Davis will be attending, extending his support to legislation before the congress regarding the Employee Free Choice Act. The legislation is heavily favored by organized labor.
Kenny B., Thomas' driver, cameraman and friend, jumps off the Kennedy Expressway, onto lower Wacker Drive, arriving at the Unions downtown office. They arrive in time for AFL-CIO President Dennis Gannon's opening remarks. Just before Gannon speaks, Thomas says, "Journalists should determine what the news is, what people need to hear. ... We should be the arbiters of that, not the politicians, not the PR people."
Thomas says he's in the business of telling his audience what they need to hear, as opposed to what they want to hear.
Labor Leader Dennis Gannon says, "Charles has always been a first class journalist, and his coverage of local and national politics is second to none."
Thomas eats a sandwich and a bag of chips, chats with the Labor Union president briefly, then heads for his next stop: the Carter G. Woodson Library on the far south side, where 1st District Congressman Bobby Rush will be. The veteran congressman was a key supporter of Senator Burris's appointment. A quote from him is crucial for Thomas's 4:30 and 6 pm reports.
As the other reporters are interviewing a Rush associate, Kenny B. spots the Congressman, taps Thomas on the shoulder and they sprint toward the black SUV.
With a day of reporting wrapped, the duo traverse to their final stop, 190 N. State, where Thomas' reporting ventures are condensed into a three-minute script, accompanied by video, sound-bites and voice-overs. Like a painter to canvas, Thomas sits in front of his computer and writes his report, which, this evening, will lead the news.
After his script is written and the video edited, the political Energizer Bunny grabs a Diet Coke, stops at the make-up station, walks into the street-level television studio, then takes his post and reports.
Yielding to anchors Alan Krashesky and Linda Yu, Thomas' workday isn't over just yet. He takes another sip of his Diet Coke, and walks to his office to focus on the 6 p.m. news. When it comes to politics, Chicago is the city that never sleeps. And Charles Thomas keeps his eyes peeled for that next big scoop.