The Anti-Bush Spin of AP / Der anti-Bush Drall von AP

Deutsche Version unten

The Anti-Bush Spin of AP

AP just can't let it be: Reports for German-eyes are clearly colored to be Bush-critical. Nobody's noticing anyway - right?

The anti-Bush spin from AP Germany becomes clear when comparing the US version and the German of President Bush's visit in Sedgefield (where Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair keeps a home ) during his London trip.

AP US:

"The paper reported rumors that President Bush will drop in next week to cap his state visit to Britain. If he comes, the welcome is likely to be friendlier than in London, where opponents of the war in Iraq hope to rally tens of thousands of protesters."

AP Germany:

"Bush will likely also be taken in with reservation in Sedgefield in the northeast of the country. Blair has a house in the city of 5,000 and Bush will likely make a stop there." (our translation)

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AP US:

"I'd be happy to buy him a drink if he came in now," said Bill Brown, 74, sipping white wine at the Dun Cow Inn. The president stopped drinking at age 40, and would be unlikely to take up the offer.

AP Germany:

Bill Brown speaks generously at Blair's favorite pub, the Dun Cow Inn. "I'd be happy to buy him a drink if he came in now," said the 74 year old, sipping on his white wine. But, as we know, Bush has sworn off of alcohol, and so Brown's offer was barely meant to be seen as serious. He gives the explanation: Bush's predecessor Bill Clinton was much more to his liking. The current President is somewhat lacking in intelligence. (our translation)

So that's what AP Germany has added to the US version: "Bush will likely also be taken in with reservation" (in Sedgefield) and the implied statement of Bill Brown, "Bush's predecessor Bill Clinton was much more to his liking. The current President is somewhat lacking in intelligence".

All AP bias is local...

Translation by Ray D..

Update: As is pointed out in the comments, the Beth Gardiner version can indeed be found at the "Scotsman", where a text different from the AP US-Version is presented, that is closer - but still not as anti-Bush - to the German AP version. The article does not refer to an AP release. It seems to me that the Scotsman published Gardiners piece as a non-AP contribution. It's still not clear why AP Germany would publish an article so anti-Bush, in contrast to the original US AP release.

Deutsche Version

AP kann es einfach nicht lassen: Meldungen für deutsche Augen werden deutlich Bush-kritisch gefärbt. Merkt ja sowieso niemand - oder?

Der anti-Bush Drall von AP Deutschland wird bei der Gegenüberstellung der US-Version und der deutschen Version der gleichen Meldung zum Abstecher von US-Präsident Bush in Sedgefield (wo der britische Premier Blair ein Ferienhaus hat) während seines London-Besuches deutlich.

AP US: "Die Zeitung berichtete von Gerüchten, daß Präsident Bush in der nächsten Woche vorbeikommen würde, als Abschluß seines Staatsbesuchs in Großbritannien. Falls er kommt, ist die Begrüßung wahrscheinlich freundlicher als in London, wo die Gegner des Krieges im Irak darauf hoffen, zehntausende Demonstranten aufzubringen." (Unsere Übersetzung)

AP Deutschland: Eher reserviert dürfte Bush auch in Sedgefield im Nordosten des Landes aufgenommen werden. In der 5.000-Einwohner-Stadt hat Blair ein Haus, und dort wird Bush möglicherweise Station machen.

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AP US: ""Ich würde dem Präsidenten gerne einen Drink spendieren, wenn er hier jetzt hereinkäme", sagte Bill Brown, 74, während er in der Dun Cow Inn an seinem Weißwein nippte. Der Präsident hatte im Alter von 40 Jahren mit dem Alkoholkonsum aufgehört und würde die Einladung wahrscheinlich nicht annehmen." (Unsere Übersetzung)

AP Deutschland: "Zwar gibt sich Bill Brown in Blairs Stammlokal «Dun Cow Inn» grosszügig. «Ich würde dem Präsidenten gerne einen Drink spendieren», sagt der 74-Jährige und nippt an seinem Weisswein. Doch bekanntlich hat Bush dem Alkohol abgeschworen, und so war Browns Angebot kaum ernst gemeint. Die Erklärung liefert er nach: Bushs Vorgänger Bill Clinton habe er wesentlich mehr geschätzt. Dem amtierenden Präsidenten mangele es dagegen ein wenig an Intelligenz.

Was AP Deutschland der US-Version hinzufügte: die Behauptung, Bush werde in Sedgefiled "reserviert" aufgenommen, sowie die Aussage von Bill Brown "Bushs Vorgänger Bill Clinton habe er wesentlich mehr geschätzt. Dem amtierenden Präsidenten mangele es dagegen ein wenig an Intelligenz."

Der Kampagnenjournalismus von AP ist lokal geprägt...

Update: Wie im Kommentar-Bereich erwähnt ist, hat der "Scotsman" einen Beitrag von Beth Gardiner veröffentlicht, der nicht so sehr der US-AP-Version, als der deutschen AP-Version entspricht - aber immer noch nicht so anti-Bush geprägt ist wie die deutsche Version. Vermutlich handelt es sich bei dem "Scotsman"-Artikel um einen reinen Gardiner-Beitrag, ohne Bezug zu AP. Es bleibt immer noch die Frage, warum AP Deutschland einen Text veröffentlichte, der ausgeprägt anti-Bush ist, im Unterschied zu AP USA.

Comments

[Xrlq]

Gott im Himmel! Ich dachte, unsere Version der A.P. wäre schlecht. Ich hatte keine Ahnung, daß es in Deutschland oder woanders eine andere Version geben könnte, die noch schlimmer ist.

Good God. I thought our version of the A.P. was bad. I had no idea there was an even worse version in Germany or anywhere else.

[news.google]

While AP Germany certainly picks stuff Germans want to read, it seems to me that don't make stuff up unless they have to.

news.google.com shows the source as Beth Gardiner from scotsman.com:

The regional paper reported rumours that President George Bush will drop in next week to cap his state visit to Britain.

If he comes, the welcome is likely to be friendlier than in London, where opponents of the war in Iraq hope to rally tens of thousands of protesters.

“I’d be happy to buy him a drink if he came in now,” said Bill Brown, 74, sipping white wine at the Dun Cow Inn, where Blair often dines when he is visiting.

The teetotal president would be unlikely to take up Brown’s offer, which may be just as well, since he says he preferred former President Bill Clinton and thinks Bush is ”a bit short on brains.”

[Spiegel tops them all]

But what are little local omissions or selections compared to what the Spiegel has to report on Bush's visit:

George W. Bush soll während seines Besuchs im Buckingham-Palast den Garten der Königin verwüstet haben. Selbst die Flamingos der Königin seien traumatisiert.

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Spiegel reports on Bush's visit to the UK:

George W. Bush has reportedly laid waste the Queen's garden during his visit in Buckingham palace. Even the royal flamingos were traumatized.

[tictoc]

Yep, and Buckingham palace staff have "never seen the Queen so angry," writes Der Spiegel, quoting the Sunday Mirror.

Here we have the foremost Spiegel qualities in a nutshell: intellectual laziness, copying from others (they never used to give attribution, now they do), and gossipy spite.

[Eric]

The Queen story was on the front page of n-tv all day as well.
http://www.n-tv.de/5195870.html

[Karl B.]

I'm having trouble feeling sorry for Bush right now. The Republicans have begun an ad campaign that questions the patriotism of Democrats who opposed the war. This is sickening and as one-sided as the reporting that David criticizes at this site. Until the Republicans give up their "crusade" to squelch legitimate opposition they should not be surprised when they are met with similarly twisted views of themselves around the world. Is this just a war of propaganda or does the truth still value?

The only problem is that all Americans suffer from the sins of the highly ideological group now in power. It is hard to have sympathy for a country led by such a band of arrogant, intolerant ideologues; I often find myself in the awkward position of defending Bush, even though I'd never vote for him. But my willingness to do so is diminishing every day.

From Chermany, your Karl B.

[Gabi]

Today on CNN I heard only an ad from the democrats about Bushs faults. Does this disturb you too, Karl?

[kid charlemagne]

Karl, I'm not familiar with the ads you refer to, but isn't it simply normal politics for one political party to portray the other in a bad light by giving issues a certain 'spin'. That's hardly equivalent to "squelching opposition". The government does not control public discourse in the USA; there is plenty of harsh criticism of Bush and his policies in the US media (I know because I'm here right now). Unlike in Europe, where Bush and co. are routinely described as "arrogant", here a diversity of views on the administration are readily available. In the end, people have to make up their own minds about which party or candidate they like better.∑

[Karl B.]

Gabi, what faults were mentioned in the CNN ad?

N. Klaric, intolerance, e.g., outing someone's wife as a CIA operative because he criticized the claim that Iraq was trying to buy uranium in Africa; impugning someone's patriotism simply because they objected to the war in Iraq.

Kid C., I see a big difference between criticizing political positions / votes on the one hand and personal attacks on the integrity of a candidate on the other. Calling someone's patriotism into question for not having supported Bush's approach to Iraq is insidious.

My point is: it is hypocritical to cry out against all the negative portrayals of Bush abroad while at the same time tolerating similar twisting of the truth at home against his adversaries in the interest of getting Bush re-elected.

As for harsh criticism of Bush in the U.S., that is a very recent development post 9-11. As recently as this summer there was hardly a peep to be heard from most U.S. media or politicians. Hell, most of the Democrats voted to give Bush the authority to march into Iraq if negotiations failed -- so much for being unpatriotic.

[tictoc]

Karl B., what is your opinion of Dick Gephardt?

I recently saw that Howard Dean attacked him for having voted to authorize military action on Iraq.

Right away Gephardt went up in my estimation.

However, it seems that Gephardt is focused on a domestic agenda: jobs, jobs and jobs, in that order *g*

Am I right? Is Gephardt a throwback to the "Big Labor" Dem era? Would you see that as good or bad?

If he were elected President, what sort of foreign policy would he pursue?

[Gabi]

The ad was about the "failure" in Iraq, Karl B. I was too busy today. I will listen to it tomorrow again and tell you more if you wish.

To Charlemagne:
I still believe that the Nürnberger Gesetze created this idea about full, half, 3/4 jewish. What is nonsense when it is a religion. Why should the jewish believe be more than religion? The islam also has more than the believe in God. It also refers to a certain culture as far as I know.

[kid charlemagne]

Gabi, many people of Jewish origins consider themselves Jewish even though they do not follow the Jewish religion. The Nazi laws have nothing to do with this.`

[Gabi]

I did not know that, kid charlemagne. Today I brought two books about it. :-)

[lgfwatch]

You could see it as anti-Bush spin in Germany...or you could see it as pro-Bush spin in the US. You could also take into account the fact that these two different articles might have been edited by two different Yahoo editors.

Either way, it's always easy to accuse the mass media of active bias when you don't know how the mass media work.

[David]

lgfwatch: wouldn't it be appropriate to add a "comment" function to your blog instead of criticizing lgf for removing individual comments?
http://lgfwatch.blogspot.com/2003_11_01_lgfwatch_archive.html#106928164173217388 (Nov 19)

[what kind of crap is lgfwatch?]

lgfwatch writes:

conservative Christian Democrat party, the only mainstream party in Germany to have wholeheartedly supported the US invasion of Iraq

What planet does he live on?