The US media’s impassioned defense of the PRIs plan to privatize oil ironically evokes the notion of ‘monopoly’ at every turn. Tracy Wilkinson of the LA Times refers to the current government utility provider as an ‘electricity monopoly’ . This is so despite the fact that Mexican public utilities are technically under the control of the public through elected representatives. These are organizational characteristics that do not apply to a true monopoly. No member of the public, for instance, may elect the CEO of British Petroleum or Exxon Mobil. Corruption, inequity and mismanagement are terms applicable to many Fortune 500 corporations. When US journalists smear Mexican public services with these terms, they attempt to make an equivalence between public works and private corporations. This begs the question of why coverage of Mexican public services has a ‘journalistic’ focus emphasizing the word ‘monopoly’ (where it is not really applicable), but coverage about US corporations does not (where such accusations actually are relevant). The US public, in fact, has always been in need of better coverage on US corporate practices here and abroad. More:
Posted on: Wed, 13 Aug 2014 01:02:15 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015