Blogger colleague Joerg Wolf has an excellent post up on The Moderate Voice about the declining enthusiasm for German Chancellor Angela Merkel in the US press. The gist of the piece is that "the honeymoon is over" and Merkel is being criticized for her lack of leadership concerning Germany’s role in Afghanistan and the slowing pace of economic reforms in Germany. The basis for Joerg’s piece is the current issue of Newsweek, which has the chancellor on the cover and contains some interesting observations on Merkel’s leadership by Joschka Fischer, Joseph Joffe and others. Joerg asks whether Americans have now become too critical of Angela Merkel, just as they were perhaps too exuberant when she became chancellor.
Trouble is, most Americans didn’t get to see that issue of Newsweek. I subscribe to the weekly and the issue I received does not even mention Angela Merkel. Evidently only the European edition reported the story. In fact, my copy of Newsweek didn’t contain one story about Europe. The coverage of Europe in the US press is pathetic and is getting worse.
How can transatlantic relations improve when the vast majority of Americans are woefully ignorant of European politics and culture?
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The U.S. Medias Admiration of Chancellor Merkel is Suddenly Over
After her election as chancellor of Germany in November 2005, Angela Merkel received a lot of positive press coverage in the US. Her predecessor Gerhard Schroeder was blamed for the bitter transatlantic disagreements over the Iraq war.
Merkel was suppos
Well, my feeling is how can transatlantic relations improve when the vast majority of Europeans are woefully ignorant of Amercian politics and culture?
Well, my feeling is how can transatlantic relations improve when the vast majority of Europeans are woefully ignorant of American politics and culture?