Sarko and the French Media

Well, I'm french and I don't hate the Americain. And I don't know any guy who hate the Americains in my network. I think this is a king of false perception or stereoptype that the Americains should reconsider. Frenchs are looking for friendship and reciprocity. We considers ourself as allies, and not only like some kind a neutral contries, witch doesn't mean that we have to always aggree with Armericain Government, even if it's often true. Once again, we are looking for reciprocity.

About Ms. Amanpour, I don't know what was her motivations. As you seen, Mr Sarkozy doesn't regret his actions and his words. He's the kind of man who doesn't fear to use the right word to describre a situation. And at moment period, there was a situation. Since three or four year, this situation is going better and better, in part thank to Mr Sarkozy actions.

Today, it's pretty overkill to think that there are more ethnic/racial tensions in France than in America.

I'm still waiting for the american press to ask the tough questions to Mr Bush.
One day when they do the autopsy on the American democraty, silence of the press, will be found as cause of death.

Robert is right: and it is not just the minorities who are pondering... silently, unfortunately!
Mr Sarkozy's answer was somewhat mean...and a bit "gaufre-gaufre" (waffle, waffle) to use franglais.

Hmm. I respect Ms. Amanpour but that was low mean and just bad journalism. I guess everyone has their off days.

Perhaps the profession of journalism has lost the respect it once enjoyed because they allow spelling errors to slip through: navAl-gazing? Is that some new form of maritime surveillance?

Christiane Amapour is a tool.

Sorry, but that was one ridiculous and strained effort.

A tool.

The French people knows a phony when they see one just like Americans and Senator Obama is a phony. This whole trip was a political stunt and photo op, nothing more. Senator Obama should be ashamed. And the American voters should be ashamed of this candidate.
There has been much criticisms about Obama's trip here.

Obama is certainly a better diplomat than Bush, nevertheless a bad candidate, I wish Ron Paul 08

Ms. Amanpour was referring to a labor riot several years ago when Sarkozy pushed a law that withheld employment contracts from young adults less than thirty years old. In addition to poor youth, the university students also protested. No, it just wasn't "dark skinned" youth. It was an incredibly poor question from a journalist which should have been researched beforehand. The question she asked certainly distinguished her from European journalists, who are more factually oriented. I think by both French and American standards her question was rude and uninformed. Sarkozy was being sarcastic in his response to her question and abilities as a journalist, no doubt, but sincere about the French loving Americans. He's in the age group that appreciates the American assistance against the German occupation of WWII.

The newsman does understand that France has enormous ethnic/racial tensions, right? And that these have existed for decades? Ever heard of Algiers? Or Le Pen?

Karma: If Christiane Amanpour had not opened her mouth - and stated quite a bit more than her name, many more than 20,000 Bosnian women would have been systematically gangraped while the world stood by and watched. She forced us to watch. And to do something about it.

McSwin: It gets better. McCain has taken to whining since he misses his fawning reporters this week, which really doesn't become him. In the meantime, we find out that Meghan McCain (a kid I like - she seems genuine) actually RECORDED the little soiree that McCain held for the American press corps at his modest place in Sedona - and boy was that place ever packed. And boy did it look like they were having fun with their favorite uncle. It's easy to find and speaks volumes about McCain's relationship with the press. It is not excatly professional. Enjoy.

Let me get this straight. Christianne Amanpour is a journalist who almost single handedly and courageously brought the genocide in the Balkans to international attention. She did this at great personal risk and she is considered by many, including Richard Holbrooke to be one of the best informed and preimminent journalists of her generation. She was praised by NATO generals. She reports, almost without exception with dignity and intelligence. She is being criticzed by a newsman who writes stories based on church bulletins and alleged dinner party conversations - and even those stories - are not researched or original - they come from the dregs of the internet blogs. What's wrong with this picture?

Oui, c'est étrange. It's just the french version of gotcha politics.

The last time the French were America's true allies was in the Revolutionary War, and then only because they hated the British.

BHO cannot change history; the French have despised Americans for a LONG time; Bush just brought them (and our other false allies) out of the shadows. Bush gave them an excuse to OPENLY hate our guts, but that's the only thing which changed.

We need to MIND OUR OWN BUSINESS! Or, as the expression says, we need to "clean up our OWN back yard" before telling other countries how they should govern themselves. Let them solve their own problems; they aren't going to help us solve ours! (But if they see we're on the edge of a cliff, they'll gladly give us a shove.)

Amanpour is among the few that can pretend to be be journalist.

How sweet that Edwards was there to hear his babies first words 'real daddy'. Put that on a Hallmark card!

How do you say "reparations" in french?

McCain just blew off speaking with thousands of reporters at the upcoming Unity national convention for journalists all the while complaining he's not getting nearly enough news coverage. At last count, it looks to be over 10,000 reporters who were snubbed by Mr. McCain. With all those news reporters losing out on a great opportunity to meet with and write about the man, could it be that mainstream media might be looking for something to report, a story to
investigate?

Feel free to forward the ollowing "news tip" to them. We can kill three birds with one stone - take the media to
task for not giving us coverage on the full McCain, bring attention to an issue affecting many veterans, and give
Senator McCain the level of news coverage he craves.

The media fills us full with stories of McCain's war 'hero' history, writes numerous articles on his status as a
POW, informs us each and every time one vet speaks out for him, reminds us endlessly about the torture, even going
into great detail about the types of torture and the number of years the man was tortured, yet it never enters the
minds of mainstream media to ever ask the obvious question "Could the man running for the highest office in the
United States of America, a job with incredible stress, possibly suffer from PTSD"?

Google the general web with the words 'mccain ptsd' and approximately one half million hits will appear. Many of these are articles by veteran groups, most having to do with McCain's lack of support for veterans and others having to do with the very real possibility he suffers from PTSD.
Now go to Google news section and enter 'mccain ptsd'. You might pull up one or two related articles, if you are
lucky.

As you can see, there is no real mainstream media resonsibility on this issue. The press is more than willing to talk about the details of McCain's torture but not the probable result of the torture.

“Among U.S. servicemen taken captive during the Korean War, as many as nine out of 10 survivors may suffer from
post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other mental disorders more than 35 years after their release, psychologist Patricia B. Sutker of the New Orleans Veterans Administration Medical Center and her colleagues report in the January AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRY.”

McCain has a nine out of ten chance of having PTSD, displays many of the symptoms, yet no one in the mainstream
press will question him, a candidate for Commander in Chief who has a history of an out of control temper and
refuses to release his military medical records to the general press.

Nine out of ten - Anyone willing to take book on the possibility he does not suffer from ptsd? Call me, I need gas money.

'Post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, can result from wartime trauma such as suffering wounds or witnessing
others being hurt. Symptoms include irritability or outbursts of anger, sleep difficulties, trouble concentrating, extreme vigilance and an exaggerated startle response.'
Before the Iraq war many of us begged the media to fully report on the wmd in Iraq, how it got there, who helped to
supply Saddam with it and to report on previous administrations' dealings with Iraq. We were told it was ancient
history. The media 'apologized' years later for their failure to fully report the war.

Today, we ask the media to help us answer the question 'Is John McCain emotionally fit for the most stressful job in our country, the President of the United States, our Commander in Chief."

Media has a choice. They can continue to tip toe around the elephant in the room, put a poltician before country,
violate the spirit of journalism and ignore ethics that bind them, or they can do their job. They can give us the
full McCain.

A typical "question" from the liberal media. It was 90% her liberal opinion and 10% question. He didn't say people of color were scum, he said people that break the law are scum. She should have asked how the injured police officer (that was just earning a living for his family) is recovering!