Radio interview and aftermath

A radio interview (here in Letzebuergesch after the news flash!) with me will appear on the morning news tomorrow on National radio with an audience of more than 150'000 people. I hope this interview will further raise awareness of stuttering, and dispel a few myths on stuttering. As explained here and here, a Tageblatt article based on interviews with our "national experts" accompanying my "non-expert" interview was catastrophically misinformed. Stuttering has its main cause in the psyche, stuttering can be imitated by kids, and so on. I had to react even though I avoid at all costs to be dragged into Luxembourg life and issues!! ;-) Unfortunately both key people were not man enough to ask for and make a clarification publicly. So I worked full-time for two days to get a press release by international experts and associations, and sent it to all press media and SLTs.

The next day, one of them, Jean-Marc Hild, sent me a constructive email and we had a constructive meeting where we decided to update the information leaflet and look into organizing a workshop on early childhood stuttering. Then yesterday (five days later) I had the radio interview. And three hours after the interview, Hermes, the director of Centre de Logopedie calls me to explain and suggest a meeting. He started his phone call to me with "Hi, I am the bad guy from the centre de logopedie!" He then blamed it all on the journalist. I asked whether he asked her to send a copy before publication. He said that he got it but had to reply in 10 minutes but was unhappy about it and reluctantly agreed. And he 100% agrees with my press release. He suggested and I agreed to a meeting. But he could not make a date this week because he has important stuff to do. Then he says, you know where it is right? I looked at your patient data, you were here as a kid and yes mistakes were made!!! :-o Then I informed him that a radio interview will come out and that he should probably call the journalist, but he declined.

So I had to contact the radio journalist to inform him of the call and that Hermes said that he said something else than what was written by the Tageblatt journalist. And then the radio journalist calls the Tageblatt journalist which read him the email she got from Hermes, in which Hermes said that the article is fine and suggested minor changes!!!!! Then the journalists got a bit upset and fed up that everyone blames them for bad articles but signs off on them! And decided to run the story big! Oh god....