In the final couple weeks leading up to the Geneva U.S.-Russia Summit, and during the separate press conferences that followed, there were few among the ranks of the press corps who seemed to have acquired a new mandate: incite agitation, sow seeds of distrust, and relentlessly attempt to extract ‘over the podium’ or ‘on record’ confrontational statements from both presidents. It seemed as though few had a moment of epiphany regarding their career and impulsively decided to switch lines from ‘reporting’ to ‘making the news’ business.
One, however, should not be hasty to reprimand and condemn that shift as grossly unprofessional and nefarious—it is the Age of the Imbecile that we live in, after all—it could be mere lack of wits.
In the preceding press conference to the Biden-Putin Summit that President Biden held at the end of his NATO meetings, the president was asked,
“What it will mean for the U.S.-Russia relationship if Aleksey Navalny were to die or be killed in prison?” (“Remarks by President Biden in Press Conference,” June 14, 2021)
Well…
Whether it’s just my personal obsession with The Godfather or it is a sheer inadvertent similitude, couldn’t help but entertain the thought that:
“She must be asking the president to put up a performance of Vito Corleone from the scene at the bosses ‘peace-making’ meeting after his eldest son, Sonny, was killed!”
One can only imagine how the following lines would sound coming out of President Biden:
“But I’m a superstitious man. And, if some unlucky accident would befall him [except in this case it would be Navalny instead of Michael Corleone]; if he should get shot in the head by a police officer; or, maybe he should hang himself in his jail cell; or, if he’s struck by a bolt of lightning; and, I’m going to blame some of the people in this room; and, that, I do not forgive!” (The Godfather Part 1 – The Meeting)
If she was reporting the news in lieu of making them, she could have asked the president: “Do you intend to communicate to President Putin that Navalny’s safety is crucial to the corroboration of Russia’s adherence to human and political rights?”
Another penetrative question intercepted President Biden as he was making his way into the building after his post Biden-Putin Summit press conference had concluded,
“Why are you so confident he’ll change his behavior, Mr. President?” (“Remarks by President Biden in Press Conference,” June 16, 2021)
The president responded,
“I’m not confident he’ll change his behavior. Where the hell — what do you do all the time? When did I say I was confident? I said —what I said was — let’s get it straight. I said: What will change their behavior is if the rest of world reacts to them and it diminishes their standing in the world. I’m not confident of anything; I’m just stating a fact.” (“Remarks by President Biden in Press Conference,” June 16, 2021)
Whether it was an utter miscomprehension of what the president had said, or it was intended to catch the president off-guard to make some sort of ‘on record’ commitment, its comeuppance had been delivered by President Biden’s response.
The bottom line is this:
The purpose of this column is neither to vilify those reporters, nor insinuate that they harbor incendiary motives at heart. Notwithstanding, the pursued end herein is to set the light upon their teetering—much more petering—professionalism. If my memory does not betray me, it was Denzel Washington who once told one reporter something in the line of: your responsibility is to tell/report the truth, not to get news out first without verification. One might add to that: certainly, it’s not to make the news either.
With respect to U.S.-Russian relations, given all the tensions and intricacies pertaining thereto, one finds themself obligated—not by means of censorship, but of professional integrity and mindfulness—to display unwavering temperance and reticence, and further conduct themself at the highest possible levels of reason and prudence, namely when it comes to their choice of words and syntax!
Reference
Remarks by President Biden in Press Conference. 14 June 2021, www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2021/06/14/remarks-by-president-biden-in-press-conference-3/.
Remarks by President Biden in Press Conference. 16 June 2021, www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2021/06/16/remarks-by-president-biden-in-press-conference-4/.
Suit Movie. “The Suite Suit Movie: The Godfather Part 1 – The Meeting.” Youtube, 24 August 2013, www.youtube.com/watch?v=2D_zITtVJGA
