El periodismo cruzeno

I've been blessed with a great guide to Santa Cruz's active news media. Osman, a former reporter and ombudsman for the region's most respected newspaper, El Deber (www.eldeber.com.bo), has dragged me over the past few days to reporter union meetings, newsrooms and a city council meeting in a poor part of town. Seems like there are quite a few people, like Osman, who want to practice serious journalism and are embarrassed by the bikini girls on the front page. It also seems like there are a lot who don't know how to do it. El Deber -- I remind you, the region's most respected newspaper -- had to issue a front page retraction of a profile published last month on a German Catholic bishop. The reporter had written in the story that, "It is said that the priest has a girlfriend and four bastard children." How's that for attribution? Osman is amazed that the author of the story and the three editors who read it are still working at the paper. But he isn't shocked. He was driven from his job as the reader's representative by reporters who resented his attempt at keeping them honest. "I lost all my friends there," he said with a shrug.

The council meeting we attended this morning was one of 12 held each year each of the city's districts. In this case, it was a poor barrio in the western part of town where roads are unmarked and unpaved, the milkman rides in a horse-drawn cart, and kids play in the dirt. Osman was doing a remote dispatch for his brother's morning radio show using a cell phone. The council was an hour late and Osman's brother was left vamping...and taunting the council. Playing recorded sounds of snores, he beckoned them to wake up. His co-host, a guy who talks in a nasal clown voice, accused them of having spent the night dancing the "chuculun" (a raunchy reggaeton dance that has scandalized the country).
Eventually they showed to dodge demands from residents to pave streets, build soccer fields for children, and increase security. Reminded me of New Jersey.