Swedish Media Again - This Time Latinobarómetro
In today's SvD, the results from the latest Latinobarómetro are discussed apropos the visit of the Chilean economist Marta Lagos to Sweden. She is here to present the results to the Swedish development agency SIDA. The only thing thoroughly analyzed in the article is the fact that only a slight majority, 53 %, clearly supports democracy as the best form of government.
Compare this to the presentation of the results from the poll in the Economist on October 27th. In the Economist, results from the last ten years are presented, making it possible for the reader to examine trends and make independent conclusions. The results show that democracy is by many viewed with suspicion. At the same time, there is a solid support for liberal market economy policies throughout the region.
In the SvD article, Lagos blames economic disparities, according to journalist Håkan Forsberg. Chavez popularity is also discussed, and the need to raise taxes. Unfortunately, the acceptance for higher taxes is small, given that people are afraid of corruption. Lagos "half-jokingly" says that a revolution might be the only way forward. She uses Europe as an example, stating that after the European dictatorships had fallen or been overthrown, it was easier to enact democratic reforms.
It is hard to know whether one should put the blame for the onesided view presented in the article on the journalist only, or also on Lagos. Either way, letting the view presented in the article go unchallenged is bad journalism. Very bad, since the only thing Forsberg would have needed to do was to examine all the barómetro data, and not only the latest result on the democracy question. Doing this would have made a more thorough analysis, going beyond simplistic Marxist and Leninist core-perifery and exploitation models, necessary in order to explain the results.
But who am I kidding? After all, Swedish media is Swedish media.
Compare this to the presentation of the results from the poll in the Economist on October 27th. In the Economist, results from the last ten years are presented, making it possible for the reader to examine trends and make independent conclusions. The results show that democracy is by many viewed with suspicion. At the same time, there is a solid support for liberal market economy policies throughout the region.
In the SvD article, Lagos blames economic disparities, according to journalist Håkan Forsberg. Chavez popularity is also discussed, and the need to raise taxes. Unfortunately, the acceptance for higher taxes is small, given that people are afraid of corruption. Lagos "half-jokingly" says that a revolution might be the only way forward. She uses Europe as an example, stating that after the European dictatorships had fallen or been overthrown, it was easier to enact democratic reforms.
It is hard to know whether one should put the blame for the onesided view presented in the article on the journalist only, or also on Lagos. Either way, letting the view presented in the article go unchallenged is bad journalism. Very bad, since the only thing Forsberg would have needed to do was to examine all the barómetro data, and not only the latest result on the democracy question. Doing this would have made a more thorough analysis, going beyond simplistic Marxist and Leninist core-perifery and exploitation models, necessary in order to explain the results.
But who am I kidding? After all, Swedish media is Swedish media.
posted by Hugin at 22:05
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