Minutes before we took off from Rome Thursday morning, the press secretary for Prime Minister Stephen Harper met reporters at the back of the plane with big news: The Italians were removing restrictions that kept their troops out of harm's way in Afghanistan.
Moreover, this news was being released the morning after Italian Prime Minister Sylvio Berlusconi and Harper enjoyed a two-hour private dinner together. In her comments to reporters before takeoff, the press secretary, Carolyn Stewart-Olsen, linked the two events.
Now, knowing we would be unable to communicate with our Canadian editors as soon as the plane took off, I and others quickly grabbed our BlackBerrys or cellphones and dashed out a few paragraphs with this important news.
Harper and other Canadian officials have been lobbying Italy and other NATO allies to lift the so-called caveats that prevent troops from several countries from operating in unsafe areas, such as southern Afghanistan where about 2,500 Canadian troops have been fighting and dying. More troops from more countries could help reduce the burden Canada and a handful of NATO members have been bearing in southern Afghanistan.
This was a big diplomatic coup for Harper, getting an ally to change their stance on the caveats after he personally interceded.
But then, 40 minutes into the flight and 36,000 feet above Europe, Stewart-Olsen came to the back of the plane again, this time with a correction: Italy had not announced it was removing its caveats but was only considering removing them, news that had, in fact, been circulating for days.
What might have been a big diplomatic coup for Harper quickly became an embarrassing mis-step for Stewart-Olsen and the Prime Minister's office.
“Blame me. It's my fault,” Stewart-Olsen said.
Reporters, like me, who had filed their stories, however, had a problem. Because they were unable to communicate with their desks back in Canada, morning newscasts and early Internet editions of newspapers were about to spread important news about Afghanistan that was wrong.
So, to undo the error, the PMO took the rare step of allowing reporters, one-by-one, to use the satellite phone next to the Harper's office on the plane. Some reporters could see the prime minister sitting across the airplane aisle from them as they made those calls.
One of my colleagues, who had been travelling with prime ministers since Pierre Trudeau had the job, could not recall any other instance when the PMO staff let reporters communicate with their editors back home using the PMO satellite phone.
Stewart-Olsen said the the PMO's staff at the front of the plane had become aware of a story filed by the wire service Agence-France Press about 15 minutes before the flight departed. The AFP story referred to a statement that Berlusconi released late Wednesday night after his meeting with Harper.
Somewhere between the receipt of that wire story by PMO staff on the plane and Stewart-Olsen's first discussion with reporters a few minutes later, someone indicated that the story was about the caveats were coming off.
Among those who travelled to Europe with the Prime Minister this week were Sandra Buckler, the prime minister's director of communications and Stewart-Olsen's boss; the deputy press secretary Dimitri Soudas, and the director of policy and research for the PMO, Mark Cameron. Jill Sinclair, who works in the Privy Council Office as the prime minister's national security advisor, is also travelling on the prime minister's plane.
Stewart-Olsen would not say who first indicated that the caveats had been lifted, insisting that she alone bore responsibility for incorrectly alerting reporters.
As for the issue of the Italian caveats, Berlusconi's office did, in fact, release a statement Wednesday night after his meeting with Harper saying he was reconsidering the rules of engagement for Italian troops in Afghanistan.
Berlusconi's foreign minister Franco Fattini had said as much a few days ago but it was the first time that Berlusconi himself admitted he was considering ordering Italian troops into the most dangerous areas of Afghanistan.
That news was on the front pages of Italian daily newspapers Thursday morning.
Italy has about 2,500 troops in Afghanistan, in the western province of Herat and in the capital of Kabul, where they are employed largely in non-combat roles.
Technorati Tags: Afghanistan, Canadian Forces, prime minister's office, Canada – Foreign policy, Silvio Berlusconi, Stephen Harper
First time EVER a PM let reporters use a satelight phone….
Geez I wish Harper would stop “coddling” the press
Don't take this personally, but … what this illustrates is that reporters should take more care in getting the FULL story before rushing off to file their reports in their race to be first.
Of course, PM Harper's press secretary was also too quick to jump the gun, probably happy to get some good news out at this difficult time for the Conservatives. To her credit, she took full responsibility.
And even the almost infallible Peter Mansbridge makes mistakes. During yesterday's National, he alluded to some Italian Minister telling the PM how good he looks because he lost weight, whereas I know for a fact (I saw it on CTV) that it was the German Environment Minister who remarked on the PM's weight loss.
It's interesting to note these headlines re: climate change, which was a major part of the PM's message on this trip, right?
1. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080528.GREEN28/TPStory/
“ENVIRONMENT: FRANCE AND BRITAIN SEEK RELAXED ECO-FRIENDLY TAXES”
2. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/nuclear-power-expansion-needed-to-cut-reliance-on-oil-says-brown-835854.html
“Nuclear power expansion needed to cut reliance on oil, says Brown”
3. http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/0,1518,556367,00.html
EUROPE'S ENERGY CRISIS 05/29/2008
“Skyrocketing Oil Prices Threaten Prosperity”
David, this is really confusing. First we have the Italian Foreign Minister saying,”the new conservative government will be more flexible on rules of engagement for its troops in Afghanistan, who cannot now be used in a combat role” (Reuters); then we have (Agence-France Press) the Italian Prime Minister saying, “Italy is considering changing the rules for the deployment of its troops in Afghanistan, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said “, and the Foreign Minister now quoted as saying,”some of Italy's 2,500 soldiers in Afghanistan might be redeployed to the south to fight the Taliban if NATO requested it.” (My emphasis added). It hardly seems surprising that the Canadians were somewhat confused.
On the other hand, if the comments had been made by a Canadian Prime Minister and a Canadian Foreign Minister, I suspect the confusion would have been blamed on the Canadian politicians making the original statements, not the politician reporting what he thought he had been told.
On Gabby's point that the reporters should have checked out the story, you point out that this rumour had been circulating for a while, and in any case, I guess it was physically impossible to contact anyone to verify the story.
Actually, it was European Commission President Jose Manuel Barosso who told Harper he looked “elegant” and had lost weight. I know for a fact — because I was there.
Now, what was that about taking more care before getting the FULL story? If your plane was literally moving down the runway as you typed this, you're off the hook …
I guess I hit a nerve.
Well, this may give you an idea of how the PM must feel at all the criticism PERSONALLY aimed at him by journalists and pundits, whereas my comment was not aimed at you personally.
On the other hand, maybe I'm far more sensitive to criticism directed at my guy than he himself is.
Regardless …
I stand – or sit – corrected on the name of the guy giving the PM a compliment. But you must admit that these two guys look alike.
José Manuel Barroso: http://ec.europa.eu/avservices/photo/photo.cfm?id=2656&sitelang=en
Sigmar Gabriel: http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/0,1518,grossbild-1191687-556367,00.html
No nerves hit. My colleagues and I accurately reported what was told to us by the Prime Minister's Office. I'm almost positive that that is one of the big criticisms of the MSM — that we don't report things accurately. Well, this time we did — and it turns out the PMO wasn't accurate.
And when they realized their error, we accurately reported the correction. I'm never going to get upset about being accurate!
As for Barroso and Gabriel — if you see them in person, there ain't a lot of similarity. Barroso is an urbane, well-dressed Portuguese politician. Gabriel is younger and, er, broader than Barroso and would very much benefit from the same program that made Harper so “elegant”.
“No nerves hit.”
And yet the fact that you reply to my comments, whereas you have often ignored comments by others aimed directly at you accusing you of bias, tells me otherwise.
A few points:
1. In my first comment, I did not gloss over the PM’s secretary’s gaffe. I pointed it out.
2. I argued for reporters getting the FULL story rather than trying to be FIRST with a story.
I never took any journalism courses, but it seems to me that when Ms. Olsen made the announcement in question, reporters could/should have asked her a few questions to confirm the story.
From this distance, it seems to me that both sides – the reporters and the press secretary – erred with their haste.
3. Re: my mistake in identifying the person complimenting PM Harper. I saw him in a CTV clip, which was perhaps 10 seconds long.
Peter Mansbridge has an entire news team behind him to inform him about who said what to whom when and where.
Is shifting the error from Mansbridge to me what is called a “Circumstantial ad Hominem” argument? Just asking …
Perhaps if news broadcasts had shown a longer clip of the PM being received by European dignitaries, instead of broadcasting the same clips of Ms. Couillard’s generous endowments ad infinitum, I would have known it was Barroso who made the “elegant” comment.
However, the fact remains I was in error.
Upon reflection, my saying this in my previous comment “And yet the fact that you reply to my comments, whereas you have often ignored comments by others aimed directly at you accusing you of bias, tells me otherwise” sounds as if I do not welcome your reaction to comments made here. Far from it.
However, in this case, I sensed – perhaps wrongly – a certain testiness on your part. Since my original comment had not been critical of you personally, I was surprised by it. Anyhow, case now officially closed at my end.
It's interesting, and this has nothing to do with David's reporting, the media in Canada could not help themselves but to report the screw up by the Conservative press person. Rather than focusing on the mistake and talking about how good it would be, which is the important part, the media preferred to play its usual gotcha journalism style of reporting. If the Italians changed their caveats that would be good for Canada but the media preferred to focus on the misstatement by the press secretary. All with the view of giving Canadians the impression that the Conservative government doesn't know what it is doing. You see that is the narrative that is being developed by the MSM. We need to get rid of these pesky Conservatives and get the media friendly Liberal Party back into power. Even if that means installing a dud (Dion) as Prime Minister.