- Carole Coleman
Carole Coleman is an Irish journalist, who until recently worked as the Washington correspondent for
RTÉ . She is a journalism graduate of theDublin Institute of Technology .She is best known for a probing television interview of President
George W. Bush just before his official visit to Ireland in the summer of2004 . The interview, for which questions were approved by theWhite House press office, led to complaints by President Bush and his press officers for the "disrespectful" manner of Coleman, who interrupted the President several times, and the cancellation of Laura Bush interview for RTE.The White House complained to the Irish Embassy about the interview. An Irish government spokesman commented that "within Government, there was an acknowledgment that the interview lacked respect." RTE, however, stated it "totally stands over the conduct of the interview and Carole's journalism." [Cite web|title=Bush aides furious at interview|url=http://www.independent.ie/national-news/bush-aides-furious-at-interview-481693.html]
Coleman stated that she resorted to interrupting the President because she was afraid his stock answers would eat up all time she had for interview: "It was a
filibuster of sorts. If I didn’t challenge him, the interview would be a wasted opportunity".cite web |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/article576295.ece |title= I wanted to slap him|accessdate=2008-07-14 |author=Carole Coleman|publisher=Sunday Times |date=2005-10-09 ] She also said she was surprised by the White House staff's reaction to the interview, but that she had no regrets:quote|Clearly the White House had thought they would be dealing with an Irish "cailin" bowled over by the opportunity to interview the Bushes
...
Had I been fair? Should I just have been more deferential to George Bush? I felt that I had simply done my job and shuddered at the thought of the backlash I would surely have faced in Ireland had I not challenged the president on matters that had changed the way America was viewed around the world.
In October
2005 , Coleman published "Alleluia America! ". The book begins with an account of her interview with Bush and its aftermath. It goes on to describe Coleman's travels through the parts of the United States which voted for Bush in the 2004 election and the people she met in those places.References
* Carole Coleman, "Alleluia America!: An Irish Journalist in Bush Country", ISBN 190414876X
External links
* [http://www.rte.ie/news/2004/0624/primetime/primetime56_1c.smil Video of Interview-RTE]
* [http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/06/20040625-2.html Transcript of Interview-White House]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
