Interview as diplomacy

IN Media Watch Briefs | 21/09/2014

Journalists can contibute to diplomacy when the occasion demands. With the interview billed as ‘India on the world stage’ Fareed Zakaria’s 'world exclusive’ on CNN was statesmanlike, not inquisitorial. He sought to set the stage for a state visit, hence all those questions on the India–US relationship. Hence also the restraint. Zakaria did not interrupt the PM’s lofty assertions on India growing at the same pace as China by asking about the poverty and inequality here. No follow up questions allowed?

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