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Obama’s Handshake–A Tale of Two Reporters
Reporting on the summit of Latin American and Caribbean leaders in Trinidad, Little Green Footballs starts with the headline “Obama Laughs It Up With Hugo Chavez,” shows a photo of Obama shaking hands with Hugo Chavez, and concludes, “But this … is absolutely sickening.”
On the other hand, UK Reuters’ Patrick Markey’s headline says “Obama, Venezuela’s Chavez shake hands at summit,” and reports:
U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday greeted and shook hands with Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez during an impromptu meeting with the anti-U.S. leader at the Summit of the Americas.
Granted, the Little Green Footballs commentator may not be a reporter, and granted he is expressing an opinion.
Just an observation on how the same event can be reported on so differently.
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5 Responses to “Obama’s Handshake–A Tale of Two Reporters”
Twenty years ago, a lot of LA countries tossed off dictatorships and many of them adopted Milton Friedman's version of capitalism as preached by “The Boys from [The University o] Chicago.”
But bad habits acquired over the centuries prevailed and democracy was tossed aside in many countries by caudillos and caciques like Hugo Chavez, a nutcase authoritarian socialist, and Evo Morales, a druglord turned politician. A lot of countries in Latin America, including Ortega's s***pit of a banana republic, simply lost their responsible class of entrepreneurs when Commie dictators and dictator/wannabes like DO took over. Now these losers and incompetents fingerpoint the US as the source of their troubles, when the real reason is their own corruption, incompetence, and let's just say, not-ready-for-prime-time political temperament. Obambi likes to be liked, and will suck it up just to avoid bad press in the US. His Cuba gambit is probably going to avoid remuneration of Americans whose property was stolen. His Mexican policy will avoid mentioning that Mexico is a crime-ridden corrupt narco-state with violence that has nothing to do with weapons bought in the USA [The 90% number cited by Calderon is a joke—the black market in the Caribbean and Cuba supplies plenty of illegal weapons. And why doesn't the silly second-rate POTUS mention that Canada's border and hinterlands are not full of criminal gangs trying to push drugs across our border? Just another Carter, and Jimmy overstayed his welcome by 444 days.
DE: “Just an observation on how the same event can be reported on so differently.”
Heh, you can take the Tea Parties as another prime example of this.
Kind of a false comparison. LGF is a right-wing website and Reuters is supposedly unbiased (I'm not being critical, I just think there is no such thing as an unbiased source). One is clearly an editorial and the other a news story. I would guess there'd be a significant difference in headlines between MoveOn.org and the Wall Street Journal while Bush was in office, too.
dave, a pretty uninformed opinion. As an example, the brutal dictator Pinochet, personal friend of Milton Friedman and Donald Rumsfeld, overthrew the democratically elected Allende and began an incredibly cruel era in Chile of death squads, disappearances and plunging economy. Hardly the model you really want to paint with such a rosy brush. I won't bother to debate with you because I know it's pointless, but for other readers, he's full of it.
Valid point, DG. One I tried to anticipate, but apparently not well enough.
Should have stuck to blogs.
For example, Infinite Monkeys describes the handshake, and ther meeting, as follows “A 'Soul Shake' for Chavez,…”The previous president wouldn't be seen within a million yards of the commie, totalitarian tyrant Hugh Chavez. Our current president?” and referring to the photograph of the handshake: “You dude! Wazzup!” , “What a disgrace,” and a “soul brother” handshake.
The Blog at the Weekly Standard referred to it as “the handshake of hipness”
Comparing apples to apples, The Washington Post “Politics” (not a bastion of liberalism), surprisingly: “
[Chavez'] tense, vitriolic relationship with former U.S. President George W. Bush has dissolved into one with Obama that has started with respect and even friendship. On Friday, Mr. Obama shook Mr. Chávez hands while the two were waiting for the inaugural ceremony to start.”
And, finally the New York Times:
“And in another twist, Cuba’s strongest ally at the summit, President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela, no fan of the United States, was photographed at the meeting giving Mr. Obama a hearty handclasp and a broad smile.”
Not much “to write home about” in the press reports
Dorian