A Panama Spring without street battles
YOUR MAN IN PANAMA
PANAMA’S “GLADIATORS” along with their founder will be no more from July 1 and journalists and media outlets will no longer be singled out for public castigation or special treatment, like being denied access to interviews.
The so called “Gladiators” were a group pro-government supporters created by Secretary of State Communication Luis Eduardo Camacho.
They appeared on social networks and in comments following news stories hidden behind sometimes poorly chosen aka’s but were soon easily identified by their repeating by rote statements emanating from Camacho’s own “unbiased” pronouncements, or even straight from the mouth of President Martinelli.
Subtlety was not their forte as readers of comments in Newsroom will remember. Any administration that can do no wrong is suspect.
The promise of better things ahead comes from TVN presenter Castalia Pascual the newly announced spokesperson for the government of President-elect Juan Carlos Varela. Who says there will be no harassment or abuse of social communicators.
"There will be no more attacks of gladiators on social networks, and no more qualifying of the media," said Pascual, who left the network on Friday, June 13..Pascual said that as presidential spokeswoman, she will ensure that there are no misunderstandings with journalists "seeking the truth." "It doesn't matter if you like or dislike those who occupy senior political positions," she said.
The "Gladiators" used opinion programs and social networks to attack opposition politicians, leaders of organized civil society and journalists. Pascual was a victim of some of these attacks.
In the air today there is a sense of a Panama Spring, which, unlike the Arab Spring was not presaged by demonstrations, tear gassings and bullets. That came earlier in the adminstration. The turn around came from the silent majority who confounded the pollsters and voted again for "change" instead of a temporary stand in.
Pascual said on Friday that she is not leaving journalism permanently, but "simply changing trenches temporarily." She added that within five years she will return to the profession.
Another former journalist who had a rocky ride on the other side of the fence was Education Minister Lucy Molinar, who went from being a broadcaster ready to point the finger at erring politicians, to a recipient of sharp pokes from the media, teachers, parents and fellow cabinet members like Justice Minister Raoul Mulino, who upset Lucy’s equilibrium by inserting a band of gun toting border guards into the annual independence parades.
It seems that the incoming government, has learned at least lesson from the Martinelli administration: Don’t go to war with the media. Take their praise or support when you have earned it and take your licks when you haven’t. Real world politicians, like performers, know how fickle supporters can be, and they also know that when you opt to stand on the stage, you should be ready for the well-aimed tomatoes or rotten eggs along with the occasional bouquet of flowers.
Over the years I have witnessed at fairly close range the turning of the tide of public opinion against world figures like Charles “France c’est moi” de Gaulle,(France) Winnie Mandela,(S. Africa) Harold “Winds of Change” MacMillan,(UK) Pierre ,“fuddle duddle” Trudeau (Canada). They all enjoyed their time in the sun, but didn’t skewer the messenger when the clouds rolled over.
