The masterfully crafted jargon and haziness in a statement issued Wednesday by the Group of Eight leaders and their counterparts from eight other major greenhouse gas emitters left even newspapers bamboozled on what actually took place in Toyako, Hokkaido.
The confusion was so profound that major newspapers were split in the evening edition's lead headlines, some reporting failed talks between the G8 and emerging economies and others calling the negotiations a success.
According to officials, many of the emerging economies refused to endorse a target proposed by the G8 leaders to halve global greenhouse emissions by 2050. But the statement said the two sides agreed on a shared vision for long-term cooperative action to fight global warming.
The evening editions of the Yomiuri Shimbun and Asahi Shimbun provided at the International Media Center carried articles positive in tone, with the Yomiuri reporting that developing countries "support the adoption of a 50 percent cut" by the G8 nations. The Asahi stated that the major economic players "reached an agreement" on sharing long-term carbon emission targets.
The Tokyo Shimbun and Hokkaido Shimbun, meanwhile, were less optimistic. The two papers, with the Hokkaido Shimbun using the largest font of the four papers, went with headlines saying the parties "failed to agree on halving (the global emissions) by 2050."
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