Rice Suddenly Loses Power of Speech behind Stripes

There was a large row during a press-conference given by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice. The head of the agency, assigned to sow the seeds of democracy throughout the world, was censored.

It’s not clear who exactly took Rice off-air at Canadian channel CBS. But the fact remains that viewers did not see one of the secretary of state’s answers. Rice’s opinion on the situation in Georgia was suddenly replaced by colored stripes.*

But why America’s leading diplomat was so suddenly hidden by a caption was only too clear: the secretary of state’s disappearance came before a rather uncomfortable question from a representative of the media. Actually, the question itself wasn’t put forward–the signal was cut off–but the start of it could still be heard.

“Many people in Russia would say that what you did after 9/11 was very disproportionate…,” began the journalist. “So the Russians are trying to ensure the security of their forces and their citizens and their peacekeepers….”. Rice could be seen to grimace. We couldn’t hear the rest of what our colleague nevertheless asked and what exactly the head of American foreign affairs explained to him: the press-conference translation was cut off.

Even now, American officials complain about extremely poor communications with Georgia, as a result of which even the president of the USA has been unable to promptly receive information about events in that republic. Now, the problems associated with reporting events in Georgia seem also to have affected Canadian television staff.

Of course, they attributed the fault at Rice’s press-conference not to censorship–that word doesn’t exist in democratic states–but to purely technical causes. But the TV staff would, almost certainly, ascribe to coincidence the fact that freedom of speech “broke down” on a question that questioned the legitimacy of Tbilisi’s actions.

Actually, just such a “chance occurrence” took place previously on American channel Fox News. Its bosses invited 12-year old Amanda Kokoyeva from San Francisco to take part in a broadcast. The girl, who had been visiting relatives in South Ossetia, was miraculously pulled from Tskhinval in the first days of the war.

But instead of describing impartially how she lived through the horrors of being bombed, Amanda (to the surprise of the interviewer and unscripted, on-air) thanked the Russian forces who “helped us.” She said also how she had “run from the Georgian forces that were bombing the town.”

When Amanda’s aunt joined in the discussion and called Georgian president, Mihail Saakashvili, an aggressor, the interviewer cut her off, announcing a commercial break.

Afterwards, in essence, the witnesses to the South Ossetian conflict weren’t allowed to finish their story. The rest is history: when the press got hold of the story, Fox News accused competing TV channels of exaggeration and defended their journalist’s actions.

It seems that Canadian TV staff have mastered the American “filtration” school of thought. It’s interesting to wonder who will be the next American politician to be hidden from uncomfortable questions, behind a caption, by a vigilant editor. Actually, “beep-beep-beep” sounds somewhat better to viewers of live TV when discussing the situation in Georgia than the statements of any Washington spokesperson on the same subject.

*Translator’s Note: To see the relevant news clip, please go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MQ_Dsyhvrc