The balance right now is not very good.
Gordon Brown is traveling around the world trying to save… his premiership.
American and British newspapers are selling the 20G spin:
“Britain and the USA are doing too much, and you need to do more.”
The newspaper coverage has been a mix of gossip: from who wants to sit next to the Argentinian president and what goodies the UK will include in the gift bags, to how many cooks Obama is bringing in his Air Force One.
But almost nothing about the real discussions.
Nothing about the real agreements.
Nothing about the real disagreements.
Nothing about the real expectations.
Nothing… except that when all our newsrooms were distracted with the trivia, Der Spiegel, yes, a German news magazine, reported what we needed to know.
The position papers for the meeting.
The real stuff.
But, of course, almost nobody spent much time with these boring (but crucial) papers.
It’s is easier to play the spin book.
The good guys (Obama and Brown) against the bad boys (Merkel and Sarkozy).
The rich against the poor.
The bankers against all of us.
Globalization versus protectionism.
A “black and white” world.
The problem is that this is not the reality.
Reality is always more complex.
And you need to work hard.
Report the facts.
Find the papers.
Read them.
Understand them.
And tell us what’s going on.
Not just the gossip of Obama and the Queen.
Or the desperate lobbying efforts by the Spanish prime minister to be in the picture.
Summits are hard to cover.
For everyone except the TV crews.
They are made and produced for TV consumption.
As a rule, when 2500 international journalists are accredited to cover an event… you cannot expect too much.
So, now more than ever, we need more Der Spiegel journalists.
More watchdogs.
And less spin.
And keep in mind that the G20 draft communique is now done.
So you don’t need to wait until the real circus is finished.
You can read it now in the FT.
Touché!