July, 2009

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  • U.S. Health Care Is Not “World’s Finest”
    Jul 29, 2009

    This blog has previously drawn attention to the failure of the American media to verify claims of U.S. world superiority when a little checking would show such pretensions to be untrue, or at least doubtful. Now it is the turn of conservatives opposing Democratic health care reform proposals to benefit from the media’s blind eye, with the exception of a handful of perceptive bloggers.

  • Anti-Americanism Resumes in Europe, despite Obama
    Jul 29, 2009

    Anti-Americanism may be resurfacing in Europe after a pause in rhetorical attacks on the United States after Barack Obama won the presidency in November 2008.

  • Don't Dump on Denmark
    Jul 23, 2009

    What is it about Denmark that seems to antagonize right-wing American commentators so much? Fox News pundits Bill O’Reilly and Laura Ingraham are particularly prone to lashing out at Denmark, even though they seem to know virtually nothing about the country.

  • Hit-and-Miss UK Views of Obama’s America
    Jul 22, 2009

    Two distinguished Brits have delivered verdicts on the United States after spending time in the country – in one case 13 years, in the other quick visits to eight cities in two months. Needless to say, the verdict of the zip-through-the-cities traveler, Chris Patten, a former EU Commissioner who is Chancellor of Oxford University, is much more superficial and impressionistic.

  • British and French Vie for “Worst Tourists” Title
    Jul 17, 2009

    Despite their traditional desire to score points off each other, the British and French are competing for the title of “worst tourists,” following publication of a study of touristic behavior by nationality conducted by the Expedia travel company. The survey of 4,500 hoteliers named the British as the worst tourists in Europe, but the French the worst worldwide.

  • Europe More Worried than U.S. by Global Economic Threats
    Jul 17, 2009

    Although G-8 leaders have warned that significant risks remain in the world economy, the U.S. media seem to be paying less attention to the continuing global crisis than their European counterparts. The likely reasons are that Europe is lagging behind the United States on the road to recovery and that Europeans are traditionally more attuned to the outside world than Americans.

  • Europe Cautious over Obama’s “Reset” Summit in Moscow
    Jul 17, 2009

    The European media generally gave a cautious evaluation of President Barack Obama’s trip to Russia, concluding that the atmosphere between the two countries had improved but that concrete progress still remained to be achieved. Like the U.S. media, the Europeans pointed to the value of Russia’s agreement to allow the transit of U.S.