What We Are Dealing With, Part 11

Rupert Murdoch recounts a rather interesting conversation he had with British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Murdoch says

Tony Blair was shocked by the BBC's coverage of Hurricane Katrina's devastation of New Orleans, describing it as “full of hatred of America.”

Not surprising really. While the BBC has some of the most diverse coverage imaginable and some outstanding correspondents, it is my opinion that the Beeb really reports on the United States with quite the jaundiced eye, almost cheerleading for American stumbles or gleefully pushing views which support the stereotypes it seeks to perpetuate.

I first became aware of this annoying habit during a visit to Germany in November, 2000. As the 2000 post-election legal battle raged in Florida, I took a weekend trip to visit friends in Bavaria. But one night I stayed up late to watch the BBC's coverage of Katherine Harris' certification of the Florida vote. Now keep in mind that just days before I had been in the US and I was very up-to-date on what was happening. But to listen to the reporters and commentators of the BBC, one would think that Bush had done something to attempt to steal the election. One would think that it was Bush who was pushing the case through the courts, as opposed to the Gore team. The Jeb Bush angle was blown way out of proportion and the involvement of "familiar faces" like James Baker lent credence to the whole "old boy network" "Big Business" memes. In watching this coverage, you really got the sense that something sinister had happened. That a great evil and injustice was being perpetrated. Of course, facts known then and that have since come to light quite easily refute such a notion.

OK, so what? Well, several months later I found myself in the Red Lion pub (one of seemingly hundreds with the same name in London) just a short walk from Downing Street. While enjoying a pint of Boddington's, I was engaged by a local in some interesting political conversation. He seemed a pretty informed, rational guy. The subject then turned to the US and he said, "You don't live in a democracy. Your last election proves that. The big money stole that election. It was all a fix from the outset. It always is. Or do you really cling to the notion that this just magically happened somehow?" As if "the big money" hadn't also pushed Gore as well. But as I tried to explain the outcome of the Media Consortium Florida Ballot Project which made the clear point that a fix was an impossibility, because due to

"..misjudgements about what was likely on the ballots, both sides pursued [legal] strategies which were diametrically opposed to their own interests during the recount."

he became quite angry, told me in no uncertain terms what an idiot I was, and stormed off. As he became more intoxicated he would occassionally point in my direction and bellow "There's a Yankee Doodle Dandy!" Such is the power of The Beeb and other European outlets in pushing their stereotypes of America on their audiences. Even when presented with vital facts (which almost surely received precious little airplay in Europe), the cognitive dissonance proves too much for some, and they storm off in a huff or are driven to drink.

Of course, this is only one example. In one pub. In one city. But of course, this is also just the 2000 election. Not Iraq, Katrina, the Banda Aceh tsunami, Kyoto Protocol or anything else. And one wonders what skews are proliferated in coverage of those subjects. And if the coverage is so skewed in nations that are nominally America-friendly (Britain), what do we think it is like in France? Russia? Egypt? Saudi Arabia?

It's a big problem. Of course Bush has been ridiculed for trying to address it through a more activist public diplomacy effort. But this folks, is really what we are dealing with.