[Ab]

At the end of Barack Obama’s press conference following the Group of 20 summit on Thursday, a large crowd of journalists did something journalists never do: they gave a politician a standing ovation (this reporter stayed neutral). In a week that began with a flurry of meetings between the US president and his counterparts from China, Russia, India, Saudi Arabia, Britain and others, and ends with this Saturday’s Nato summit, the media’s uncharacteristic behaviour might easily be forgotten.

Yet it will linger precisely because it matched the response – to all appearances sincere, over and above the supplication shown towards any occupant of the White House – by the leaders of the countries from which the journalists had travelled. The same cerebral and low-key approach used by Mr Obama in dealings with fellow leaders came out in often lengthy, but nuanced, answers to questions. “He actually answered the questions he was asked,” says one startled Asian reporter.

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