Yesterday we linked to that mock-tastic Washington Post interview with hot-hot-hot Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa. Today, a reader informs us that reporter Lally Weymouth was conducting the interview on behalf of Newsweek as well as the Post (corporate media hegemony etc. etc. etc.) Ok, fine.
Interestingly, all of those unbelievably arrogant questions we complained about in the Post interview never made it into the Newsweek edition, but even weirder is that both outlets industriously edited the questions and the answers. Newsweek trimmed things in order to make the interviewer look (mercifully) smarter and less cocky, while the Washington Post’s edits aimed to make Correa look terse and hostile. Fine goals each, I’m sure, but neither is particularly journalistic. Seriously, this is weird shit. Meet you after the jump for details.
Alright, in the Newsweek edition, this back and forth:
Became:
Q: How close are you to Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez? You invited him to your Inauguration and called him a close personal friend.A: He is a very good friend of mine. [But] we are building a national Ecuadorian project and don’t accept any foreign intervention from either Venezuela or from the U.S.
Q: How close are you to Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez?Soviet in its terseness, no? Also undermines any sovereignty Correa might have been trying to forge. And on the flipside, this in the Post:A: He is a very good friend of mine.
Q: You are now calling for a new constituent assembly as Chavez did. Why?Turned into this in Newsweek:A: We don’t have a true representative democracy because our representatives don’t care about us. So we don’t have a means to push them to do what people want to do.
Q: It is said that the constituent assembly will make the executive branch stronger.
A: In our country, the executive power is very weak…The executive needs more power in order to lead the country.
Newsweek merged the two questions, sure, but it also took out the reference to U.S. executive power which provides a little context, no? There is a wee difference between executive branch that is all powerful and one that is as powerful as the U.S.
Q: You are now calling for a new constituent assembly as Chavez did. It’s said that this will make the executive branch stronger.A: In our country, the executive power is very weak. Here [in America] you have a much stronger executive power. The executive needs more power in order to lead the country.
Anyway, the plot continues to sicken. Read both and compare: Newsweek/WaPo.
But honestly, did you know that editors (and make no mistake--I'm totally blaming Jackson Diehl) could just mix and match and nip and tuck like this? I didn’t, and I’m sort of cynical to start with.
