FOXNews.com - Telemundo Sorry for Airing Fox Comments

Telemundo Sorry for Airing Fox Comments

Thursday, November 09, 2006

By KATHLEEN MILLER, Associated Press Writer

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MEXICO CITY — A Spanish-language TV network apologized to President Vicente Fox Thursday after airing offhand comments made by Fox about his pending departure from office before the formal start of an interview.

"Telemundo understands that the broadcast of these comments could be construed as inappropriate and may have been taken out of context,"the Florida-based network said in a written statement."Telemundo regrets any offense that the airing of these comments may have caused in Mexico."

Telemundo obtained an interview with Fox, conducted on Oct. 31, from the Spanish news agency EFE and broadcast the offhand comments the next day in a segment called"In Context"that airs from Los Angeles. Since then, it has shown up on Internet sites including the popular YouTube.com.

"Now I speak freely. ... I can say whatever nonsense. ... It doesn't matter now. ... Now it's the end, I'm leaving,"Fox said during pleasantries exchanged with an EFE reporter before an interview that dealt with ongoing conflicts in Mexico's southern state of Oaxaca.

Fox leaves office on Dec. 1 after a six-year term.

Fox's comments appeared in large print on the front page of several major Mexican newspapers on Thursday.

Patricia Vazquez, director of EFE's Mexico office, sent a letter Wednesday to Telemundo, expressing her dismay with the channel's decision to air the remarks. She classified the comments as"solely informal,"irrelevant, off-the-record comments"that were only said to make the beginning of the interview more comfortable and break the ice."

Vazquez also sent an apologetic letter to Fox's spokesman, Ruben Aguilar, saying that the use of the material fell short of journalistic norms and that EFE"distinguishes and protects informal conversations that are without news content ... and regrets that other international media do not have the same standards."

At his daily morning news conference Thursday, Aguilar said Fox regretted"the lack of ethics and journalistic rigor of this television channel."

In its statement, Telemundo said that"at no time did EFE advise Telemundo that any part of the material was'off the record'or not to be used."

"Telemundo's broadcast was consistent with U.S. journalistic standards,"it concluded.