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Author Thanks Media Analyst for Viralizing Column, Recounts Past Political Denial
🇦🇷 Argentina /Culture & Society

Author Thanks Media Analyst for Viralizing Column, Recounts Past Political Denial

From La Nación · (19m ago) Spanish Mixed tone

Translated from Spanish, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

TLDR

  • The author expresses gratitude to media analyst Gustavo Arabia (@braga_dito) for highlighting a column in La Nación, albeit mistakenly categorizing it as political analysis.
  • The piece humorously recounts a past incident where former Chief of Staff Aníbal Fernández denied a fictional column, which inadvertently boosted its readership.
  • The author reflects on the viral nature of content shared by political figures and considers renaming their column.

In the bustling digital arena where opinions fly and analyses are dissected, it's a rare and often amusing moment when a piece of writing finds an unexpected audience. Such was the case with my recent column in La Nación, which, thanks to the keen eye of media analyst Gustavo Arabia (@braga_dito), has garnered significant attention. While Arabia's sharp analysis correctly identified the column's presence, he playfully miscategorized its genre, elevating a piece intended as lighthearted commentary into the realm of serious political discourse.

Thank you very much for making me go viral, Mr. @braga_dito

— Marcos BrindicciThe author expresses gratitude to the media analyst for highlighting his column.

This humorous misstep immediately brought to mind a rather memorable episode from 2011. During my tenure as a columnist, I penned a fictional account of a meeting at the presidential residence, complete with imagined conversations and electoral advice. To my astonishment, then-Chief of Staff Aníbal Fernández took the fiction literally, publicly denying the event and labeling the publication as deceitful. This unintended controversy, however, proved to be a boon for the column, significantly boosting its readership and proving that sometimes, even a denial can be the best form of promotion.

He only got the journalistic genre wrong, thanks to which my simple costumbrista piece, sprinkled with irony and humor, became a profound political analysis.

— Marcos BrindicciThe author humorously describes how his column was miscategorized.

It seems the digital currents of Argentine politics have a way of making the mundane viral. The current phenomenon, amplified by shares from prominent political figures and their digital legions, has certainly given my humble Saturday column an unexpected boost. It leads one to ponder the nature of public discourse and how easily lines blur between reality and fiction, especially when amplified through the powerful channels of social media and political endorsement. Perhaps it's time to reconsider the column's title, moving away from something as understated as 'De no creer' (Unbelievable) to something that better captures the often surreal and unpredictable journey of a piece of writing in the public eye.

The meeting did not exist and I called him a liar and a fabulist.

— Aníbal FernándezThe former Chief of Staff denies a fictional event described in the author's column.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by La Nación in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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