It will be necessary to refresh, once again, the Government spokesperson, Gabriela Cerruti, the wise self-critical reflection of President Juan Domingo Perón, made on May 28, 1974 before union representatives of artists, broadcasters, the press, the cinema and the radio operators: “In 1945, all the mass media were against us and we won the election. In 1955, all the organs were in favor of us (most of them were ours) and they kicked us out. And in 1972 they were all against us and we won, obtaining 60 percent of the votes in the elections. So, in this life everything is relative”.

And that Perón is no longer with us to make this simple account that would further reinforce his well-founded thesis: since the restoration of democracy 39 years ago, we have spent more than 27 (right now too) under the rule of various governments justicialists.

For Cerruti such overwhelming evidence is not enough and he has said that “journalistic political operations are an enormous risk for democracy because they directly affect the outcome of an election.”

It may be that the spokeswoman is still with blood in her eye due to the results adverse to her strength in the 2021 elections, and because something similar, or even more forceful, is seen coming in next year’s presidential elections. But her theory falls apart if the Peronist presidential triumphs of 1989, 1995, 2003, 2007, 2011 and 2019 are remembered, including some of them with very high percentages, no matter how much the so-called “hegemonic media” ranted.

The Peronists of the “first hour” are not surprised that those of the “last hour”, like Cerruti, contradict with such self-confidence the teachings of the great chief and founder of the movement that bears his name. “It happens that she (and many k) – the Peronist lawyer and politician Juan Carlos López sharply opined on Twitter – is not a Peronist: she is an opportunist looting the Titanic.” It alludes, perhaps, to the fact that Cerruti agreed to his first elective positions for Nuevo Encuentro, the small force led by Martín Sabbatella, who later also made a career under the Kirchnerist umbrella.

But if Cerruti doesn’t like this quote from Perón, he might as well notice this trite one from Bill Clinton: “It’s the economy, stupid” (in inclusive language, stupid/stupid). In other words, people vote according to the pleasures or disappointments that their own pockets offer them, regardless of the orientation and decibels of the media gossip. It is, more or less, what happens in any country and the reason is obvious.

Since the spokeswoman studied and taught at the ideologized journalism faculty of La Plata, she should be fresher in what some prestigious international communication theorists made clear several decades ago: that political content in the media only reinforces tendencies in favor or against that each citizen already has inside his head. Or does Cerruti naively assume that an anti-Kirchnerist would change his vote for the sole fact of being kept tied up 24 hours a day in front of the C5N screen? The experiment would be counterproductive: not only would it continue to vote against the current ruling party but it would probably strengthen its aggressive impulses.

“We have a very important opposition media ecosystem that does not reflect the current economic improvements,” says the spokeswoman who is alarmed because they light a match in the house across the street, while hers is on fire.

Is it not, perhaps, that the favorable expectations it claims to have towards the economy are repeatedly bombarded by Cristina and Máximo Kirchner and La Cámpora, first manifestly (when Martín Guzmán was minister) and -for now- sotto voce, although Silvina Batakis insist on following a path similar to that of his predecessor?

It is clear that the new official communication strategy responds to the needs of a cornered Peronism: sweep their own mistakes under the rug without taking responsibility for any of them and hold the outside enemy responsible. Coordinate everyone against Martín Guzmán first of all, but then the usual: shoot against the media, businessmen, the countryside, speculators, etc.

The President inaugurated this ineffable maneuver in his speech read on July 9 in Tucumán: “Put down your arms, here there is a people who want to eat, have health, education and be happy,” he said as if he had nothing to do with what something like that happen.

Since then, it has been imposed as a daily routine to make protocol visits of various inconsequentialities, while the spokeswoman considerably raised her controversial profile, perhaps as a lightning rod to divert attention towards her. And what if he succeeds.