Writing in Diario Libre today, Thursday 18 February 2016, executive editor Ines Aizpun states that the press is a major ally of political patronage but that it could stop this. She shares an observation made by Gloria Alvarez and Rodrigo Arenas of the Movimiento Civico Nacional de Guatemala who are visiting the DR and will be taking part in an American Chamber of Commerce luncheon-talk at noon today.
Alvarez has said of political patronage: “It is not ideology, it is a manipulation mechanism.”
Aizpun points out that the media has played a sad and dangerous role. “Do we distinguish populism from social policies?” she asks. She also notes that the media has not removed from its pages politicians who try to pass off their populist strategies as social assistance.
She says that journalists have played the game of politicians by signing on to their payrolls to tell the stories they want heard. “When will we stop? Do we not see the medium and long-term dangers?” “Do we cheat our readers by selling as news what is little more than smokescreens?”
She writes: “A successful populist regime (e.g. Chavez, Castro as popular idols) always clamps down on the media and press freedom. Under the cover of populism, ‘helping a journalist friend’ gradually destroys the profession. Without friendly journalists the cancer of populism would have a harder time.”
http://www.diariolibre.com/opinion/am/populismos-y-prensa-IB2773974
