THE BUSH INTERVIEWS
Both The Bangkok Post and The Nation sent their editors to Washington last week to interview President Bush in advance of his two-day Thailand trip which starts tomorrow.
Both newspapers published stories in print and online (and also on television in the case of Nation Group) but I am pretty surprised at the relative low prominence that both publications have given their interviews bearing in mind the expenses the trips will have incurred.
As a publisher I would want maximum possible exposure if I was going to spend upwards of 100,000 baht or more on just one story. I'd want a lead story at the very least.
Did you read these stories, and when publishers globally are desperately looking for ways to cut costs and increase income do you think 100,000 baht (I guess that's the minimum it would have cost each newspaper in travel expenses) for an interview with President Bush is money well spent?
7 comments:
dear bangkok bugle, do you think the nation has 100,000 baht (well, the nation is very generous when it comes to suthichai such as his chauffered-driven car but ....) to spend? the trip was paid by the us embassy.
The whole issue of English media in a country where few actually speak or understand it has been a bit of a mystery to me ever since I lived in Thailand. Sure, there's a fairly large expat community there, but Thailand isn't like Kenya, for instance, where English is a major trade language. The Bangkok Post and Nation are, at best, low cost competitors to IHT or WSJ, and sideshows at their worst. Why would they would send reporters to the US to interview the US president when they could hire a freelancer to ask pertinent questions at a news conference? Why they would do it for the English rags defies sense. I would think that a sit down interview while Bush is in Bangkok, translated for the Thai public, would make more sense.
Insider .. I truly value your comments but are you sure the U.S. Embassy paid for the trips? I think you probably know which publication I am associated with, and after speaking with various people in the U.S. over the past three or four weeks I understand that both publications were invited to attend but at their own expense. If you're sure that's not the case then I'll readily accept I am wrong and have been misinformed.
David. If you look at the transcripts issued by the White House it seems as though it could easily have been done as a conference call, without even the need for a freelance.
I do not regularly monitor the Thai language press but it does seem strange that the likes of, for example, Thai Rath with possibly 2 million readers, was snubbed in favour of the two English titles with perhaps no more than 100,000 readers per day. (And again, if I am wrong about the Thai press not being invited someone please tell me).
i work for the white house and i can reliably inform you that we agreed to pay for both newspapers to travel to Washington on the strict condition that they write the most boring and uninformative interviews as possible. i am happy to see that both publications have lived up to their side of the bargain.
dear bangkok bugle, then i stand corrected. i shall dig in more. as why is suthichai wasting the nation money to interview bush when his newspaper is going through lay off and pay cut? then again suthichai always thinks of himself ... first. i shall do a bit of investigation. but that is the talk in the nation that the nation did not pay for the trip.
Nation Insider - It may be the trip was paid-for, but from what I understand and have been told that's not what happened. If you do find anything please share, and as I said if it was paid-for then I will happily add that fact to my original post.
White House Insider - Thanks for your contribution. I like your style. ;-) On a serious note, IF the trip was paid-for there almost certainly would have been conditions attached to (a) the interview questions, and (b) the scope of the coverage. I just find it amazing that both publications haven't made more of what is probably a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
I don't think the US government paid for the trip.
I think it may actually be illegal for the US government to directly pay foreign journalists in this manner. I know they did it in Iraq, but the WH got flack for that.
Imagine if the White House paid foreign journalists to visit the US and do insignificant puff pieces. George Bush would be the most popular president ever.
Even if it were true, Suthichai would have to disclose it if he had any journalistic integrity, which he doesn't.
Either scenario is disgraceful, because it proves Suthichai is an incompetent crook or a propaganda stooge for a foreign government.
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