Schröder's Washington visit won't go unremarked, thanks to Ray D., co-author of Medienkritik -- the best English language blog about bias and anti-Americanism in Germany -- and Joe N. of ¡No Pasáran! -- the best bi-lingual French blog. Both are coming to DC, though not officially. Rather, they're Schröder's cheerleaders--Bronx cheers, says Ray:
We want to give him a warm sending-off, so...Ray insists the rally isn't anti-German -- just anti-German media:
...Live at 12:30 PM on June 27 at Lafayette Park directly across from the White House! Everyone is invited to attend...
A Demonstration against Anti-American Bias in German Media and Politics and for German-American Friendship and Cooperation.
[W]e are planning to have a stage with podium and microphone. Ray D. will be there live to discuss bias in the German media and to do blog readings. We will also supply signs and banners. We would like to ask readers for recommendations and suggestions for possible speakers and slogans.
[A] very significant and highly influential portion of the German media is biased and does not fairly cover both the United States and conservative Americans. The fact is that the average consumer does not want to work very hard to find the rare voice that opposes the popular trend. Not only that, but much of the media continues to play to the lowest, populist common-denominator when it comes to Germans' feelings about Americans.Count me in; it's only 5 blocks away. Look for me among the dozens holding a sign in one hand while live-blogging with the other.
(via NIF)
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1 Schröder's ally French President Jacques Chirac diagnosed their mutual threat:
"facing sluggish economies, high unemployment and falling popularity, . . ..Unlike Schröder, however, Chirac gets 22 more government paychecks before qualifying for either the French dole (along with 1 in ten French workers) or Devil's Island prison wages after his prosecutorial immunity expires.
Asked by a reporter whether the two leaders were united in pain, Chirac became animated.
"There is sort of a culture of pessimism in our countries," Chirac said. He contrasted France and Germany with the United States.
Details at David's Medienkritik
1 comment:
Yes, it is undeniably true that quite a large proportion of the German media is or at least used to be biased. However, there seems to be a shift in the perception of America in general and American politics in particular in the media here.
Strangely enough the reason for that is probably an non-American. The EU is going through a reformation process and, right now, looks rather battered. Now all of a sudden instead of all the things that went wrong in the US (and there are such things) and great in the EU (there are also such things) other memories pop up. For example the conflict in ex-Yugoslavia that after some years and some thousands being killed, ten-thousands being inured and raped and so the EU more or less refused to solve and left this to a NATO under US-lead.
So that America picture IS changing and esp. in influential media such as the SPIEGEL there were a lot of clear pro US essays lately.
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