Interacting with media: words mean differently to people from different countries
25th October 2007 by Bish Mukherjee, ABC
In a worldwide survey conducted by the United Nations the question asked was: “Would you please give your honest opinion about solutions to the food shortage in the rest of the world?”
The survey was a failure because of the “wrong” words used in the survey question. Or were they wrong? You be the judge.
In Europe they didn’t know what “shortage” meant.
In most of Africa they didn’t know what “food” meant.
In India they didn’t know what “honest” meant.
In China they didn’t know what “opinion” meant.
In the Middle East they didn’t know what “solution” meant.
In South America they didn’t know what “please” meant.
In the USA they didn’t know what “the rest of the world” meant.
This write-up published in the Deccan Chronicle newspaper got me thinking.
When we talk of media releases and media conferences not getting us the desired results, how much of it can we attribute to “wrong” words used in the media releases and media conferences?
Sometimes, ironically, the reverse is the result. If President Bush inadvertently uses words that he didn’t intend saying, it still makes big news. Here are examples of some of his media mentions in the past couple of years:
In Washington DC on January 14:
I’m also mindful that man should never try to put words in God’s mouth. I mean, we should never ascribe natural disasters or anything else to God. We are in no way, shape, or form, or form should be a human being, play God.
In Washington DC on March 16:
I’m occasionally reading, I want you to know, in the second term.
In Washington DC on April 28:
It’s in our country’s interests to find those who do harm to us and get them out of harm’s way.
On December 12, defending Dick Cheney’s pre-war assertion that the United States would be welcomed in Iraq as liberators, President Bush said at the NBC Nightly News interview: “I think we are welcomed. But it was not a peaceful welcome.”
Not so long ago, an Asian journalist queried if David Letterman, Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien realize that when they speak to American audiences in the US they are in fact speaking to millions of viewers across the globe and the non-US viewers might have problems understanding the context in which the jokes are being made.
David Letterman once said:
President Bush is vacationing in Crawford, Texas. He will be vacationing for five weeks. That’s a long time. I don’t think he has an exit strategy for his vacation either.
Probably he didn’t, at least as per Jay Leno, who commented in his show: President Bush had an embarrassing moment after holding a press conference in China, did you see this on the news? He tried to leave the room, but the doors were locked. Once again, no exit strategy.
But it is Conan O’Brien who takes the cake on exit strategies. In his show Conan O’Brien remarked: For the first time ever, Republicans in Congress – Republicans! – are demanding to know the President’s exit strategy from Iraq. Yeah, in response the President said “I have an exit strategy, I leave office in 2008.”