|
 |
 |
 |
 |
||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||
| Topics: Security/International :: Domestic :: JRL :: Firefox-optimal :: site feedback | |||||||||||||||||
 | |||||||||||||||||
|
#16 - JRL 9133 - JRL Home In "Lost in (Russian) translation" (Christian Science Monitor, April 27) John Hughes repeats as fact an anecdotal incident from the Putin-Bush summit in Bratislava. The actual quote, attributed to an unnamed senior Administration official, was: "Putin thought we'd fired Dan Rather . . . It was like something out of 1984." The incident has gotten widespread press attention, yet reveals inconsistencies that should probably lead readers to take the whole story with a grain of salt. In the original piece (Time magazine March 7, 2005), John F. Dickerson goes on to say that "during the leaders' joint press conference, one of the questioners Putin called on asked Bush about the very same firings, a coincidence the White House assumed had been orchestrated." In fact no question was asked about CBS at the press conference. The transcript shows that a question was asked by well-known press gadfly Alexei Meshkov of Interfax, who had had a run-in with Bush two years earlier at Camp David. Meshkov asked Bush to explain in what ways, specifically, he considered the Russian press to be not free, and then followed up by asking Putin why the latter was so reticent to criticize the violations of journalists rights in the USA, specifically the firings of journalists at CNN. Meshkov is presumably referring to CNN's recent firing of news executive Eason Jordan for saying that American troops shot at journalists. Since Dickerson did not bother to check the facts and note the discrepancy, we can only wonder whether behind closed doors Putin was actually referring to CNN, but was misunderstood by the administration official, who later embellished with a reference to Dan Rather; or whether the original discussion was indeed about CBS and the administration official simply got confused at the press conference. In either case, however, the entire incident smacks more of administration "spin control" than of honest reporting. With best wishes, Professor Nicolai N. Petro
|
|