The White House press room has traditions going back roughly forever, of opening and closing presidential news conferences with the wire services, AP and UPI. One asks the first question and the other closes with “thank you, Mr. President.” A similar protocol takes place with WH press briefings.
Thomas was the UPI White House correspondent for decades, so would have been called on according to that protocol, and that is also why she had that front row seat for all those years. Calling on her was not the choice of any White House, they were merely following tradition.
When UPI was bought by a group related to the Rev Moon, she retired from UPI. As a courtesy to her, personally, she was able to retain a front row seat except for a period during the Bush-43 Administration.
So, while the WH and she all knew that she would be first called, it is extremely unlikely that any WH press secretary ever called her beforehand to suggest what the line of questioning might be, as happened with the Huffington Post reporter.
It’s really a very different scenario. In this case, Helen is right. And you don’t know how much it hurts to say that!