President Lopez Obrador inaugurated a military air base runway that opened in 1952. Health authorities began a large-scale vaccination campaign without sufficient vaccinations to reach the “mass” degree. The federal government recalled an unpaid plane as the main prize was not a plane but a few hundred thousand pesos. It’s all politics. It doesn’t matter if the message builds a truth that cannot be verified, what matters is the message: that the voice of the government is always there, that it is the majority, and if possible, it is the only one.
Of all the communication exercises undertaken by the Lopez Obrador government, the ones that work best are the conferences that take place every morning at the National Palace. This rehearsal has been active for over two years, starring the boss and a series of questions in a way that often sounds like a talk show by former lawmaker and actress Carmen Salinas, with the bearded, werewolf, and model alien in the audience. Even in the best families, it was called the program.
Since his government began, Lopez Obrador has led more than 540 conferences in the format of “Las Manyeras”: He was on stage, with a microphone, speaking without a time limit and answering audience questions – often, as is classic, more than just questions, comments To get the ball straight to the goal. The program also hosts guests: government officials and business people who participate in choreographies to reinforce or persist in certain ideas.
Looking at demographic studies, the Al-Sabah girls achieve their political goals. Opinion polls about the presidential performance got Lopez Obrador approved by 60%, while he won National Survey on Access to Public Information and Protection of Personal Data (Enaid) It works to document the success of the morning. There are 3 results from this survey by Inegi and Inai.
1. Increased confidence in government information. Confidence in what the government says during its first year, Lopez Obrador, grew by 10 percentage points overall between 2015 and 2019. Specifically, confidence in the information provided by the government increased from 50% to 60%.
2. Confidence increased as more published information is perceived. There is more confidence in the information transmitted by the government because people perceive there is a greater spread of that information. The absolute perception that there is more government information – which is communicated mainly through audiovisual media: television and the Internet – is sufficient for citizens to give more confidence in what the government itself says.
3. The more spread, the more confidence. The result is that with more government information communicated – regardless of whether it is verifiable, timely, or complete – there is greater confidence in that information. It doesn’t matter if the messages are clearly wrong or wrong, it is important that there are messages. It’s all politics.
Sabah Lopez Obrador is not an exercise in accountability, in which transparency is provided and decisions are discussed while exercising power. The morning hours are an exercise in rhetorical saturation. And they work, which is why the government frequently coordinates with other champions and with specialized topics. From the secret new liberal official we pass to the shifted official with a loose tongue. The target audience loves it.
Journalism is stuck on its own The crisis of confidence, Unable to position itself as a counterweight to mainstream discourse: consumers of news are increasingly mistrustful of their own media. Not to mention the opposition: there are so few serious and weighty cadres that we are on our way to forgetting the electoral political meaning of that word.
Enaid’s results are an indication of the way citizens will make their decisions in the future. The nearest future is the electoral arena. Now do you know who will win again?
El Economista online editor
Economists
journalist. Since 2010 he has edited the digital version of El Economista in Mexico City. Master in Transparency and Protection of Personal Data from the University of Guadalajara. He specializes in communications and information technology law. His personal blog is Economists.
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