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Saturday 23 April 2016

Sun Corbyn And Obama Fail

[Update at end of post]

With Barack Obama visiting London, and meeting the people who really mattered, like Her Maj and Young Dave, the Sun’s non-bullying political editor Tom Newton Dunn sensed an opportunity to fulfil the dictates of Creepy Uncle Rupe and use the occasion to put the boot into Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, because, well, it’s probably in his job description.
Wrong again, Tom. Never mind, eh?

Claiming an “exclusive”, for reasons soon to become apparent, he told readersBARACK Obama has no interest in meeting Jeremy Corbyn in London this week and never offered him a slot in his schedule, The Sun can reveal … One of the Labour leader’s aides had said he is weighing up whether to see the President on Saturday during his farewell three-day trip to Britain before stepping down next January … That sparked the suggestion left-wing Mr Corbyn may snub the chance of talks with the leader of the free world”.

Really? Do go on. “But it has now emerged that the White House had long ago dismissed approaching Mr Corbyn, who has been a bitter critic of US foreign policy for decades - revealing it is the Labour boss who faces being snubbed … The revelation is an embarrassment to Mr Corbyn’s office and casts doubt on at least one member of staff’s claims … A US administration source has told The Sun: ‘Don’t expect to see a meeting with Jeremy Corbyn on the president’s itinerary any time soon’”.
So sure was The Great Man of his ground that he took to Twitter to confirm “Excl: Obama doesn't want to meet Jeremy Corbyn this week and has never offered him a slot”. Well, that was on Tuesday, but by yesterday, it was clear that the only reason Newton Dunn’s story was “exclusive” was because it was totally wrong.

BBC Political Editor Laura Kuenssberg, apparently surprised at the news she was relaying - there’s that lobby mentality coming through again - told her Twitter followers that “Obama WILL meet Corbyn after all, tomorrow”. Yes, the Sun had called it wrong.
As the Guardian - rather more reliable in such matters - has noted, “Jeremy Corbyn met Barack Obama on Saturday and discussed issues including the power of multinational corporations and the need for action on inequality. The Labour leader said he had enjoyed his face-to-face meeting with the US president at the Royal Horticultural Halls in London on Saturday afternoon, after days of uncertainty over whether they would meet”.

That would be “uncertainty”, as in one of Rupert Murdoch’s boot boys giving the rest of the lobby a bum steer in order to put the boot into Corbyn and Labour. The Sun used to pull a similar trick in the days of Neil Kinnock’s leadership, and Trevor Kavanagh, its political editor from those days, is still on hand to ensure his successor throws the full range of dead cats on the table in order to cause maximum distraction.

So what has the Sun said about the meeting between Corbyn and Obama? Simples. It just hasn’t reported it. Fingers in ears, La La La, they can’t hear you. No change there, then.

[UPDATE 1755 hours: our friends at @TheMurdochTimes have confirmed that Newton Dunn's story is just another steaming pile of Baby Shard bullpucky by confirming with White House media representatives - the kinds of people who it might be expected that the Sun's political editor and the rest of the lobby would consult before rushing into print - that the Sun was wrong all along
As they have told, "we sent @tnewtondunn's claimed White House quotes to WH media rep. Response:: 'No-one said that. The meeting was scheduled'". That means the Sun made up the story in order to kick Corbyn, and any other member of the lobby taken in by it ought to hang their head in shame (the Sun, of course, would not participate in such activity, as its hacks have no shame). No surprise there, indeed]

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

So Newton Done is proved to be a liar YET AGAIN.

Well I never.

pete c said...

Be fair on the poor dears.

Having lost a complete outside spread to the death of Prince, they probably thought there was some ground to make up in the fight for the bottom of the barrel.

Anonymous said...

You're an idiot...Kuenssberg's tweet indicates clearly that the meeting was unexpected and The Sun told us that Corbyn's own office said there was no meetng scheduled...but that they wanted one.

A reading of The Huffington Post might enlighten you...

'There had been some doubts over whether the meeting would go ahead. As this is not a state visit, opposition leaders are not automatically granted an audience with the president.'

And Politico shows that the meeting was only arranged two days ago after 'tense negotiations', 3 days after the Sun report...so no, nothing had been scheduled...just as the Sun reported accurately...from 'Politico' on the 22nd...

'U.S. President Barack Obama will meet Saturday with Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, according to sources familiar with the planning.

News of the meeting ends days of speculation about whether the the leaders would make time for each other during Obama’s three-day trip to London.

There had been tense negotiations with the U.S. embassy to secure a 30-minute slot in the president’s diary, according to one source close to the talks. Corbyn’s office had been refusing to confirm that a meeting would happen, but insisted they were trying to find a time that worked before Obama left for Germany on Sunday morning.'

Tim Fenton said...

@3

Thank you for the Murdoch press excuse note.

Newton Dunn's story was crap. And what made it worse was that the lobby mentality took hold, so that subsequent developments were viewed through the same twisted prism.

But good to see a nerve has been touched.

SteveHolmes11 said...

#1: It would be newsworthy when Newton Dunne was caught spinning a truth.

#3: Obvious trolling and rightly outed.

Anonymous said...

@Anonymous, 03:36.

Thanks for demonstrating just how desperate you card-carrying neocons have become.

I hope it sticks in your craw forever. Sideways.