Vol 8, No 1, 2009 pp. 9-24
UDC
339.732:316.774 (497.13 + 82)
HELPING OR DESTROYING?
GENERALLY ACCEPTED CRITICISM OF THE INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND
AND THE MEDIA PROBLEM-
The case of Argentina and Croatia
Martina Topić
Faculty of Political science, Department for Croatian politics
Lepušićeva 6, HR-10 000 Zagreb, Croatia
E-mail: martinahr@gmail.com
This paper analyses the generally accepted criticism of the International Monetary Fund and its relations with the media. The latter is done in respect of the IMF cooperation with Argentina and Croatia. These two countries did not have exactly the same type of cooperation with the IMF but they are similar in the amount of criticism that the IMF got in both of the countries. At first, it is thought that the IMF undermined the Argentinean economy and, secondly, it is often blamed for the foreign debt and for foreign ownership of Croatian banks. Additionally, the IMF is often blamed to be the enforcer of the US foreign policy directing its help towards the countries allied with the United States and at the same time undermining the economies of the countries not being allied with the United States.
Due to the impossibility of getting any comment from the IMF (after several months of attempting to do so) with an explanation to consult the website, this paper also analyses the IMF website and its communication with the media via its official website.
The conclusion is that the IMF website is doubtful due to the impossibility of obtaining certain information and due to the unclear system of classifying the press releases and country information. Instead of having clear communication with the media, the IMF directs a journalist to the website where it seems that it ignores certain information and underlines the other making the work of trying to get a clear and full information really difficult and furthermore, making the criticism even more reliable and trustworthy.
Key words:
IMF, Argentina, Croatia, criticism, media.
POMOĆI ILI UNIŠTITI? OPŠTE PRIHVAĆENA KRITIKA MEĐUNARODNOG MONETARNOG FONDA I PROBLEMA MEDIJA – SLUČAJ ARGENTINE I HRVATSKE
Ovaj rad analizira načelno prihvaćenu kritiku Međunarodnoga Monetarnog Fonda i njegove odnose s medijima. Posljednje je učinjeno u smislu suradnje MMF-a s Argentinom i Hrvatskom. Ove dvije zemlje nisu imale potpuno isti oblik suradnje sa MMF-om ali su slične u količini kritika koje je MMF dobio u objema zemljama. U prvom slučaju smatra se da je MMF minirao argentinsko gospodarstvo, a u drugome slučaju često ga se krivi za vanjski dug i inozemno vlasništvo nad hrvatskim bankama. Dodatno, MMF se često krivi da je produžena ruka američke vanjske politike koja pomoć daje zemljama američkim saveznicama dok u isto vrijeme minira gospodarstva zemalja koje nisu američke saveznice. Obzirom na nemogućnost dobivanja bilo kakvoga komentara od MMF-a (nakon nekoliko mjeseci pokušavanja) s objašnjenjem da konzultiramo website, ovaj rad također analizira MMF-ov website i njegovu komunikaciju s medijima. Zaključak rada je da je MMF-ov website dvojben obzirom na nemogućnost pronalaženja određenih informacija te obzirom na nejasan sustav klasificiranja PR izvještaja i informacija o zemljama članicama. Umjesto jasne komunikacije s medijima, MMF upućuje novinara na website gdje se čini da ignorira određene informacije, a ističe druge čineći time posao dobivanja jasne i potpune informacije zaista teškim, a time dodatno čini kritiku još pouzdanijom i vjerodostojnijom.
Ključne reči:
MMF, Argentina, Hrvatska, kritika, mediji
