Sarkozy calls Netanyahu a "liar". Obama agrees.

[Jacob]

I think we lose much if the media take the position they will report on everything that might be sensational rather than reporting on things that are newsworthy but given recent trends (Fox News and our own copy cat here in Canada) I am not hopeful.

Are you talking about that Sun News or whatever it's called? Are people watching them?

[Berkut]

Wow, a lot of you want some really bland news. How long do you think it would take a publication to die from lack of advertising revenue if its circulation depended only on news voluntarily released  from official sources?

Total strawman, nobody has made any such argument.

[The Minsky Moment]

That's right - as I say my view of journalism is that it exists to spread information

In what way is the OP report informative?

Sarkozy calling Netanyahu a liar is a dog bites man story.  The Obama quotation is devoid of any content.

[Sheilbh]

Sarkozy calling Netanyahu a liar is a dog bites man story.  The Obama quotation is devoid of any content.

Indicates true feelings (kind of like the Jesse Jackson-Obama comment which was similarly dog bites man story).  The report I read before that Yahoo one also had quotations about Obama telling Sarko that he should have warned that he was going to vote yes on UNESCO and 'that weakened us' and asking the French to put pressure on the PA to stop (especially as the PA seemed to be targetting useful UN bodies like the WIPO, WHO, WFP and the like).  They also agreed to agree on any UNSC vote on Palestinian statehood, unlike in the UNESCO vote.

The Guardian have put together a list of other microphone minutes, again they all seem like legitimate stories to me and the only difference between them and this is that there's no footage.  That doesn't seem terribly significant:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/nov/08/politicians-best-microphone-gaffes

[Gups]

Whether informative or not, it's still newsworthy. The test for this is if it gets in the news and it is being widely reported in newspapers (at least online) on both sides of the Atlantic.

If you follow French-Israeli relations this might be a dog bites man story. Most of us don't and so this is of some passing interest.

This thread demonstrates why (a) Nobody respects British journalists and (b) why British newspapers do far better than Americna ones.

[grumbler]

why British newspapers do far better than Americna ones.

They "do better" than American ones for the same reason British buggy whips "do better" than American ones. 

[Berkut]

Sarkozy calling Netanyahu a liar is a dog bites man story.  The Obama quotation is devoid of any content.

Indicates true feelings (kind of like the Jesse Jackson-Obama comment which was similarly dog bites man story).  The report I read before that Yahoo one also had quotations about Obama telling Sarko that he should have warned that he was going to vote yes on UNESCO and 'that weakened us' and asking the French to put pressure on the PA to stop (especially as the PA seemed to be targetting useful UN bodies like the WIPO, WHO, WFP and the like).  They also agreed to agree on any UNSC vote on Palestinian statehood, unlike in the UNESCO vote.

The Guardian have put together a list of other microphone minutes, again they all seem like legitimate stories to me and the only difference between them and this is that there's no footage.  That doesn't seem terribly significant:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/nov/08/politicians-best-microphone-gaffes

Agree to disagree I guess, I don't think any of those are newsworthy, except to the extent that they are "scandal" lite. That kind of crap is everything that is wrong with what passes for actual journalism.

[citizen k]

Yeah, I agree with Berkut. This is classic "gotcha journalism".

You say that like it's a bad thing.  The entire point of journalists is to get them.

No, the entire point is to inform.

[Tamas]

Yeah, I agree with Berkut. This is classic "gotcha journalism".

You say that like it's a bad thing.  The entire point of journalists is to get them.

That may be right or not, but sure as hell Marty should like it after the berzerk support he showed for Assange.

[Neil]

Yeah, I agree with Berkut. This is classic "gotcha journalism".

You say that like it's a bad thing.  The entire point of journalists is to get them.

So how does hacking dead girls' cellphones fit into their virtuous circle?

Still, they sure 'got' those unsuspecting parents, didn't they?

[The Minsky Moment]

The report I read before that Yahoo one also had quotations about Obama telling Sarko that he should have warned that he was going to vote yes on UNESCO and 'that weakened us' and asking the French to put pressure on the PA to stop (especially as the PA seemed to be targetting useful UN bodies like the WIPO, WHO, WFP and the like).  They also agreed to agree on any UNSC vote on Palestinian statehood, unlike in the UNESCO vote. 

That I would agree is informative and appropriate to publish. 
Yet it is interesting that aspect appears to have been pushed off the leader by the personal gossip angle.  One of the problems of reporting non-news is there is less room to publish and analyze the actual news.

Indicates true feelings

Assuming for the sake of argument that "feelings" are an appropriate news subject, it is still a dog bites man story.  The personal tension between Netanyahu on the one hand and Obama and Sarkozy on the other (and for that matter pretty much everyone else other than Bibi's close relatives and his dog) is hardly a state secret.  I take Gups point that not everyone follows Israeli-French and Israeli-US relations but why would this story matter to such people?

[Razgovory]

Yeah, I agree with Berkut. This is classic "gotcha journalism".

You say that like it's a bad thing.  The entire point of journalists is to get them.

So how does hacking dead girls' cellphones fit into their virtuous circle?

Still, they sure 'got' those unsuspecting parents, didn't they?

I was thinking the same thing.  Sheilbh's version of Journalism justifies the actions of News Corps.  I don't really like sort of bizarre scrutiny that the private lives of politicians receive.

[crazy canuck]

I think we lose much if the media take the position they will report on everything that might be sensational rather than reporting on things that are newsworthy but given recent trends (Fox News and our own copy cat here in Canada) I am not hopeful.

Are you talking about that Sun News or whatever it's called? Are people watching them?

Yeah, that is what I was trying to think of.

[Sheilbh]

So how does hacking dead girls' cellphones fit into their virtuous circle?

Still, they sure 'got' those unsuspecting parents, didn't they?

Phone hacking's illegal.  It should be and the law should be enforced. 

In addition Milly Dowler's parents are in no way public figures who deserve significant media attention.

I always struggle with it because I love celebrity gossip, but I do think it's probably right that there's a right to privacy and family life.  That should extend to politicians and celebrities.  Unless their private life does, somehow, become a public interest story it should be left alone. 

Generally I think society's moved in that direction and the media should catch up.  Boris Johnson's been caught out cheating on his wife a few times, on of our Ministers has divorced his wife and come out, Ken Livingstone has an extraordinary family situation.  In none of those cases has anyone had to step down or really been attacked over it. 

Having said all of that the press should be encouraged to revel in their natural state and be like rats in a gutter over things like this or any public aspect of a story.

No, the entire point is to inform.

That's so weak though.  It also seems just weirdly 1950s to me.  We should listen to our betters and let the press decide that lots of things aren't newsworthy, they're not really informative so we don't need to know about it. 

[Eddie Teach]

Non-story. Sarkozy, Obama and Netanyahu are all politicians, hence liars.