S
Steven L. Sheff
Guest
Direct link to the interview mentioned in the article below:
http://www.rte.ie/news/2004/0624/primetime/primetime56_1c.s-
mil
http://www.madison.com/captimes/opinion/column/nichols-
/77302.php
John Nichols: Pampered Bush meets a real reporter
By John Nichols June 29, 2004
On the eve of his recent sojourn in Europe, President Bush
had an unpleasant run-in with a species of creature he had
not previously encountered often: a journalist.
He did not react well to the experience.
Bush's minders usually leave him in the gentle care of the
White House press corps, which can be counted on to ask him
tough questions about when his summer vacation starts.
Apparently under the mistaken assumption that reporters in
the rest of the world are as ill-informed and pliable as the
stenographers who "cover" the White House, Bush's aides
scheduled a sit-down interview with Carole Coleman,
Washington correspondent for RTE, the Irish public
television network.
Coleman is a mainstream European journalist who has
conducted interviews with top officials from a number of
countries - her January interview with Secretary of State
Colin Powell was apparently solid enough to merit posting on
the State Department's Web site.
Unfortunately, it appears that Coleman failed to receive the
memo informing reporters that they are supposed to treat
this president with kid gloves. Instead, she confronted him
as any serious journalist would a world leader.
She asked tough questions about the mounting death toll in
Iraq, the failure of U.S. planning, and European opposition
to the invasion and occupation. And when the president
offered the sort of empty and listless "answers" that
satisfy the White House press corps - at one point, he
mumbled, "My job is to do my job" - she tried to get him
focused by asking precise follow-up questions.
The president complained five times during the course of the
interview about the pointed nature of Coleman's questions
and follow-ups - "Please, please, please, for a minute, OK?"
the hapless Bush pleaded at one point, as he demanded his
questioner go easy on him.
After the interview was done, a Bush aide told the Irish
Independent newspaper that the White House was concerned
that Coleman had "overstepped the bounds of politeness."
As punishment, the White House canceled an exclusive
interview that had been arranged for RTE with first lady
Laura Bush.
Did Coleman step out of line? Of course not. Watch the
interview (it's available on the www.rte.ie Web site) and
you will see that Coleman was neither impolite nor
inappropriate. She was merely treating Bush as European and
Canadian journalists do prominent political players. In
Western democracies such as Ireland, reporters and
politicians understand that it is the job of journalists to
hold leaders accountable.
The trouble is that accountability is not a concept that
resonates with our president. The chief executive who
gleefully declares that he does not read newspapers cannot
begin to grasp the notion that journalists might have an
important role to play in a democracy. And, if anything, the
hands-off approach of the White House press corps has
reinforced Bush's conceits.
Bush would be well served by tougher questioning from
American journalists, especially those who work for the
television networks. And it goes without saying that more
and better journalism would be a healthy corrective for our
ailing democracy.
Come to think of it, maybe one of the American
networks should hire Carole Coleman and make her its
White House correspondent. It would be Ireland's loss
and America's gain.
Published: 5:47 AM 6/29/04
--
Steven L. Sheffield stevens at veloworks dot com veloworks
at worldnet dot ay tea tee dot net bellum pax est libertas
servitus est ignoratio vis est ess ay ell tea ell ay kay ee
sea aye tee why you ti ay aitch aitch tee tea pea colon [for
word] slash [four ward] slash double-you double-yew double-
ewe dot veloworks dot com [four word] slash
http://www.rte.ie/news/2004/0624/primetime/primetime56_1c.s-
mil
http://www.madison.com/captimes/opinion/column/nichols-
/77302.php
John Nichols: Pampered Bush meets a real reporter
By John Nichols June 29, 2004
On the eve of his recent sojourn in Europe, President Bush
had an unpleasant run-in with a species of creature he had
not previously encountered often: a journalist.
He did not react well to the experience.
Bush's minders usually leave him in the gentle care of the
White House press corps, which can be counted on to ask him
tough questions about when his summer vacation starts.
Apparently under the mistaken assumption that reporters in
the rest of the world are as ill-informed and pliable as the
stenographers who "cover" the White House, Bush's aides
scheduled a sit-down interview with Carole Coleman,
Washington correspondent for RTE, the Irish public
television network.
Coleman is a mainstream European journalist who has
conducted interviews with top officials from a number of
countries - her January interview with Secretary of State
Colin Powell was apparently solid enough to merit posting on
the State Department's Web site.
Unfortunately, it appears that Coleman failed to receive the
memo informing reporters that they are supposed to treat
this president with kid gloves. Instead, she confronted him
as any serious journalist would a world leader.
She asked tough questions about the mounting death toll in
Iraq, the failure of U.S. planning, and European opposition
to the invasion and occupation. And when the president
offered the sort of empty and listless "answers" that
satisfy the White House press corps - at one point, he
mumbled, "My job is to do my job" - she tried to get him
focused by asking precise follow-up questions.
The president complained five times during the course of the
interview about the pointed nature of Coleman's questions
and follow-ups - "Please, please, please, for a minute, OK?"
the hapless Bush pleaded at one point, as he demanded his
questioner go easy on him.
After the interview was done, a Bush aide told the Irish
Independent newspaper that the White House was concerned
that Coleman had "overstepped the bounds of politeness."
As punishment, the White House canceled an exclusive
interview that had been arranged for RTE with first lady
Laura Bush.
Did Coleman step out of line? Of course not. Watch the
interview (it's available on the www.rte.ie Web site) and
you will see that Coleman was neither impolite nor
inappropriate. She was merely treating Bush as European and
Canadian journalists do prominent political players. In
Western democracies such as Ireland, reporters and
politicians understand that it is the job of journalists to
hold leaders accountable.
The trouble is that accountability is not a concept that
resonates with our president. The chief executive who
gleefully declares that he does not read newspapers cannot
begin to grasp the notion that journalists might have an
important role to play in a democracy. And, if anything, the
hands-off approach of the White House press corps has
reinforced Bush's conceits.
Bush would be well served by tougher questioning from
American journalists, especially those who work for the
television networks. And it goes without saying that more
and better journalism would be a healthy corrective for our
ailing democracy.
Come to think of it, maybe one of the American
networks should hire Carole Coleman and make her its
White House correspondent. It would be Ireland's loss
and America's gain.
Published: 5:47 AM 6/29/04
--
Steven L. Sheffield stevens at veloworks dot com veloworks
at worldnet dot ay tea tee dot net bellum pax est libertas
servitus est ignoratio vis est ess ay ell tea ell ay kay ee
sea aye tee why you ti ay aitch aitch tee tea pea colon [for
word] slash [four ward] slash double-you double-yew double-
ewe dot veloworks dot com [four word] slash
