Congress calls on Obama to apologize! |
(h/t Sarah Leah Lawent / israelnationalnews.com) French President Nicolas Sarkozy is in a diplomatic knot after telling President Barack Obama, in what he thought was a private call, “Netanyahu is a liar.” The president also made a negative remark about the Prime Minister.
He and President Obama were talking in a private room after a press conference at the G20 summit in Cannes last week.
They did not know that their microphones were open and that reporters outside still were wearing their headphones they had used to hear simultaneous translations of President Obama’s remarks in public.
The French Web site Arret sur Images published the conversation.
President Obama complained to Sarkozy for not telling the United States ahead of time it would vote in favor of admitting the Palestinian Authority to UNESCO, a move the Obama administration opposed.
The conversation flowed to the subject of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.
Sarkozy: “I cannot stand him. He is a liar.”
when you shoot an Armenian think of Obama
Obama: “You’re fed up with him, but I have to deal with him every day!”
The president then suggested to Sarkozy that he try to convince PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas to lay low in its attempt to win membership in the United Nations.
The French website apparently was the only media outlet to publish the remarks because other journalists who overheard the remarks – unintended for publication – agreed not to report the conversation.
(EOZ) This is a big story, and others are all over it. But there is another troubling aspect to the story that is being overlooked.
The conversation happened on November 3rd. The story was only reported yesterday, November 7th, and then only because a French media watchdog website broke the story.
Which means that none of the journalists who were there reported about this explosive story.
Why not?
While I cannot find anything in the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics to preclude reporting on a story like this, I guess we should trust their judgment that some open mic stories are fair game and others are way over the line. (There was another time that Obama kept his mic open and journalists reported on what he said, but he didn't say anything embarrassing.)
Under the same circumstances, these ethical journalists would no doubt have kept quiet about similarly indiscreet comments from, say, George W. Bush or Dick Cheney, and they would have happily signed an agreement muzzling them from reporting them.
And there would have been no news reports about how outrageous it is for world leaders to demand that something embarrassing to them be kept quiet.
The conversation happened on November 3rd. The story was only reported yesterday, November 7th, and then only because a French media watchdog website broke the story.
Which means that none of the journalists who were there reported about this explosive story.
Why not?
The surprising lack of coverage may be explained by a report alleging that journalists present at the event were requested to sign an agreement to keep mum on the embarrassing comments. A Reuters reporter was among the journalists present and can confirm the veracity of the comments.Ah, so it was an ethical thing. Because of "sensitivity."
A member of the media confirmed Monday that "there were discussions between journalists and they agreed not to publish the comments due to the sensitivity of the issue."
He added that while it was annoying to have to refrain from publishing the information, the journalists are subject to precise rules of conduct.
While I cannot find anything in the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics to preclude reporting on a story like this, I guess we should trust their judgment that some open mic stories are fair game and others are way over the line. (There was another time that Obama kept his mic open and journalists reported on what he said, but he didn't say anything embarrassing.)
Under the same circumstances, these ethical journalists would no doubt have kept quiet about similarly indiscreet comments from, say, George W. Bush or Dick Cheney, and they would have happily signed an agreement muzzling them from reporting them.
And there would have been no news reports about how outrageous it is for world leaders to demand that something embarrassing to them be kept quiet.