Kahn’s ’not guilty’ plea lost to TV

Electronic media covering the Dominique Strauss-Kahn case in New York, one of the most reported stories of recent years, missed his "not guilty" plea.

Kahn's 'not guilty' plea lost to TV

Electronic media covering the Dominique Strauss-Kahn case in New York, one of the most reported stories of recent years, missed his "not guilty" plea. His first words uttered in public since his arrest for sexual assault were not recorded because the sole camera permitted in court was not rolling. The operator had not received permission to start filming, French journalists reported from the scene.

Court hassles: Former International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief
Dominique Strauss-Kahn arrives back at his temporary Manhattan
residence following a court appearance in Manhattan Supreme Court.
Pic/AFP

US print media wrote about the defendant's "thick French accent". The court camera did catch the former IMF chief's reply to Justice Michael J Obus's subsequent question about whether he understood the implications of failing to reappear in court. That was a simple "yes", delivered with eyes closed and a nod of the head.

The New York Times noted that Strauss-Kahn's arraignment was being carried live on the two main French channels, TF1 and France 2, on domestic cable news channels and on France24, which broadcasts in French, English and Arabic. His arrival at the Manhattan courtroom was greeted by a media scrum and by scores of New York chambermaids in their work clothes booing and chanting "Shame on you".

The publicity attaching to Strauss-Kahn's arrest after his alleged assault on a chambermaid on 14 May, including his "perp walk" before the cameras and his televised court appearance, caused some sections of the French establishment to react with outrage.

Maid to testify
The hotel maid who has accused former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn of sexual assault plans to testify at his trial. "She is going to come into this courthouse, get on that witness stand and tell the world what Dominique Strauss-Kahn did to her," her lawyer, Kenneth P Thompson said.