Breathe
By Pamela Cerdeira
Having a female president forces us to rethink what and how we question. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's strategy is simple: if you wouldn't say or ask that to a man, then there is something to check.
But avoiding the distraction of the dress goes beyond that, it is not only related to a gender issue, but rather to what we stop seeing. Since her inauguration speech, Claudia Sheinbaum made it clear that she will follow the same communication strategy as López Obrador, which includes: behaving like a militant, daily mornings (in which lies are told), a special section to attack journalists because the information they publish makes her uncomfortable (from "Who's Who in Lies" to "Lie Detector"), jokes and branding ("It is a watered-down coup, more than a coup d'état", referring to the SCJN admitting for review the Judicial Power Reform-yes, he is less funny than his predecessor), and all those prescribed to us during the last six years.
The consequences of the mornings were: a success for Morena and a disaster for journalism. In the Reuters Digital News Report 2024, journalism lost credibility. On average of all countries surveyed only 40% trust the news; in Mexico 35%, the fall started in 2019.
It was the bloodiest six-year period for journalists, and the country was filled with small governors who, emboldened, shamelessly replicated the strategy. Was it all the fault of AMLO's communication strategy? I do not think so; a serious answer must include a sincere reflection and its respective self-criticism, but undoubtedly what was done from power had terrible effects on journalism.
If they are going to use the same strategy (they are already doing so), it would be suicidal to repeat what we did these last six years.
This six-year term will require from journalism more rigor, creativity and above all, not to fall into the traps of their messages. Because time is a finite commodity, and if we get distracted talking about his morning show, the scandalous phrase or his dress, we will not have time to talk about everything else, what really matters.
But I feel very good
I was thinking of writing something else, I was following the story of Irma, a woman whose life would not have occurred to the most heartless novelist. In the last call we had had, her mom was almost kidnapped by the person who was taking care of her, and they had filed a restraining order to keep her away. I called her to ask her how she was doing, her mother died and she is not sure when, as she was not notified. Today she is worried about other things, since November 2023 she was going to be operated at the Social Security for a tumor in her bladder. The surgery had three trials before being successful, the first time it was stopped, just before entering the operating room because another emergency patient arrived, the next time, the doctor had an accident and the third time (which was not the last one) there was no anesthesia. Finally on June 25 of this year she was operated on. The pathology results are not yet available because "it is closed", she is told. She is also not sure if she will be able to have an appointment with the urologist soon, because in clinic 58 "there were 4, now there are only two left due to lack of budget".
"But I feel great," he told me before ending the call. Another day in the Dina-narca health system.
The opinions expressed are the responsibility of the authors and are absolutely independent of the position and editorial line of the company. Opinion 51.
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