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CNN Live At Daybreak
Euro Edition: Morning Papers
Aired September 11, 2003 - 05:44 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: See how 9/11 is being covered overseas in this morning's "Euro Edition." Tony Campion live in London.
Good morning, Tony, what are the papers saying there?
TONY CAMPION, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Morning to you, Carol.
Well, I want to start by -- I've got a couple of things to show you on that and one other story as well that we need to cover today for sad reasons.
Start with "The Times." Now you know "The Times" is kind of center right. It's -- it used to be certainly this sort of voice of tradition, of conformity in Great Britain. Let's have a look at the editorial pages round at the back here.
First, a column by Ashley Collectski (ph). He's one of the senior editorial staff. And really the theme that he is saying here is that the war on -- well look at his headline, Bush has let bin Laden win the war on terror. This is the view of one of the senior editorial staff at one of the most -- excuse me -- establishment -- excuse me -- most establishment newspapers in Great Britain.
Now the point that he is making is that everyone in America and Europe, as well as the Muslim dominated countries in Asia and Africa, now live in a permanent state of fear that was unimaginable two years and one day ago. I mean he goes on. He gives -- you know he talks about the fact that a lot of the threats that come from Osama bin Laden, for instance in the tape that we just heard, seem, in his view, to be almost restrained, almost poetic compared to what he calls the B movie bragging of George W. Bush talking about bin Laden being taken dead or alive, you know he's a goner, all that kind of thing, the noises that we had heard from him. This is one view. And as I say, this paper is very balanced.
And in the paper's own lead editorial column comes the other side of the argument. I mean it's saying you know we should reject -- I'm paraphrasing -- we should reject the idea that the civilized world has lost or is losing the battle with al Qaeda. Bombings are not a regular curse in London, in Paris, in Berlin, and I'm sure you know it's also thinking you know on behalf of the United States as well, about New York, Washington, and so on. A share of the credit for this act should be awarded to the intelligence services.
So you know obviously big, big debate, but there is a certain amount of concern in Europe that in fact the war on terror is not going as it should be. Bin Laden being described there as a winner.
Many, just to move on, many of the tabloids, obviously, as you will have been covering yourselves, are dealing with the tape purportedly of Osama bin Laden and its implications. I think (ph) obviously every paper has this somewhere near its front page. Back and still gloating. And probably fear would be the word to use really. A certain amount of restrained fear balanced, I guess, also with, you know, that inevitable -- what's the word -- relaxed discussion that comes when things begin to fade back in history.
It's two years ago. You think back to two years after -- I know the attacks weren't on the same scale -- but think back to two years after the U.S. embassies were attacked in East Africa. That was al Qaeda, that was Osama bin Laden, but we began to sort of forget the names until 9/11, until 9/11 two years ago. And there's a certain amount of that feeling also in this tabloid coverage, he's back, he's gloating, but it is also two years ago.
COSTELLO: Yes, I wanted...
CAMPION: So those are the...
COSTELLO: I wanted to jump away from the newspapers for just a bit to ask you this question about how the British feel -- people are feeling today. We know that right after September 11 there was a huge outpouring of sympathy for Americans. Is that sentiment still with the British people or has it subsided?
CAMPION: Yes, you know I think so. I mean perhaps it's been pulled back a little bit because of some of the images of war that have been seen. There was a very strong anti-war lobby in the United Kingdom, probably stronger than there was in the United States of America. You would of I guess seen coverage of the -- you know all the people who went parading, went marching against the war. And I think also because we've had a lot of discussion about the reasons for going for war or the fact that weapons of mass destruction haven't been found.
You may have heard something of the death of a prominent civil servant, David Kelly, and the Hutton inquiry into his death, the circumstances surrounding his death. But that is also sort of bringing to the fore a lot of discussion about whether or not Britain went to war on false pretenses. And that is probably almost sort of blurred the earlier picture, if you like, blurred the picture of out and out sympathy after the Twin Towers came down.
I mean clearly at that time it was a huge tragedy at a personal level, though, of Britains there. There were U.S. citizens there. It didn't matter who was there. That sympathy still exists, but it's at kind of a lower level than it was two years back.
COSTELLO: Yes. Tony Campion, many thanks, live from London this morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired September 11, 2003 - 05:44 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: See how 9/11 is being covered overseas in this morning's "Euro Edition." Tony Campion live in London.
Good morning, Tony, what are the papers saying there?
TONY CAMPION, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Morning to you, Carol.
Well, I want to start by -- I've got a couple of things to show you on that and one other story as well that we need to cover today for sad reasons.
Start with "The Times." Now you know "The Times" is kind of center right. It's -- it used to be certainly this sort of voice of tradition, of conformity in Great Britain. Let's have a look at the editorial pages round at the back here.
First, a column by Ashley Collectski (ph). He's one of the senior editorial staff. And really the theme that he is saying here is that the war on -- well look at his headline, Bush has let bin Laden win the war on terror. This is the view of one of the senior editorial staff at one of the most -- excuse me -- establishment -- excuse me -- most establishment newspapers in Great Britain.
Now the point that he is making is that everyone in America and Europe, as well as the Muslim dominated countries in Asia and Africa, now live in a permanent state of fear that was unimaginable two years and one day ago. I mean he goes on. He gives -- you know he talks about the fact that a lot of the threats that come from Osama bin Laden, for instance in the tape that we just heard, seem, in his view, to be almost restrained, almost poetic compared to what he calls the B movie bragging of George W. Bush talking about bin Laden being taken dead or alive, you know he's a goner, all that kind of thing, the noises that we had heard from him. This is one view. And as I say, this paper is very balanced.
And in the paper's own lead editorial column comes the other side of the argument. I mean it's saying you know we should reject -- I'm paraphrasing -- we should reject the idea that the civilized world has lost or is losing the battle with al Qaeda. Bombings are not a regular curse in London, in Paris, in Berlin, and I'm sure you know it's also thinking you know on behalf of the United States as well, about New York, Washington, and so on. A share of the credit for this act should be awarded to the intelligence services.
So you know obviously big, big debate, but there is a certain amount of concern in Europe that in fact the war on terror is not going as it should be. Bin Laden being described there as a winner.
Many, just to move on, many of the tabloids, obviously, as you will have been covering yourselves, are dealing with the tape purportedly of Osama bin Laden and its implications. I think (ph) obviously every paper has this somewhere near its front page. Back and still gloating. And probably fear would be the word to use really. A certain amount of restrained fear balanced, I guess, also with, you know, that inevitable -- what's the word -- relaxed discussion that comes when things begin to fade back in history.
It's two years ago. You think back to two years after -- I know the attacks weren't on the same scale -- but think back to two years after the U.S. embassies were attacked in East Africa. That was al Qaeda, that was Osama bin Laden, but we began to sort of forget the names until 9/11, until 9/11 two years ago. And there's a certain amount of that feeling also in this tabloid coverage, he's back, he's gloating, but it is also two years ago.
COSTELLO: Yes, I wanted...
CAMPION: So those are the...
COSTELLO: I wanted to jump away from the newspapers for just a bit to ask you this question about how the British feel -- people are feeling today. We know that right after September 11 there was a huge outpouring of sympathy for Americans. Is that sentiment still with the British people or has it subsided?
CAMPION: Yes, you know I think so. I mean perhaps it's been pulled back a little bit because of some of the images of war that have been seen. There was a very strong anti-war lobby in the United Kingdom, probably stronger than there was in the United States of America. You would of I guess seen coverage of the -- you know all the people who went parading, went marching against the war. And I think also because we've had a lot of discussion about the reasons for going for war or the fact that weapons of mass destruction haven't been found.
You may have heard something of the death of a prominent civil servant, David Kelly, and the Hutton inquiry into his death, the circumstances surrounding his death. But that is also sort of bringing to the fore a lot of discussion about whether or not Britain went to war on false pretenses. And that is probably almost sort of blurred the earlier picture, if you like, blurred the picture of out and out sympathy after the Twin Towers came down.
I mean clearly at that time it was a huge tragedy at a personal level, though, of Britains there. There were U.S. citizens there. It didn't matter who was there. That sympathy still exists, but it's at kind of a lower level than it was two years back.
COSTELLO: Yes. Tony Campion, many thanks, live from London this morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
