Weekly presentations on “healthy life” and “women in history” will be among the recurring features of President Claudia Sheinbaum’s morning press briefings.
Sheinbaum, who was sworn in as Mexico’s first female president on Tuesday, announced in August that she would follow in the footsteps of Andrés Manuel López Obrador and hold weekday morning press conferences at the National Palace.
Sheinbaum presided over her first morning briefing, or mañanera, as president on Wednesday.
Early in the press conference, Sheinbaum said that her press conferences — which she called “mañaneras del pueblo,” or “morning pressers of the people” — would be conducted in a “special way.”
She said that information about a certain issue will be presented each day, noting that the topic could be “security, trains, infrastructure projects [or] social programs.”
Sheinbaum also confirmed that reporters will have the opportunity to ask questions of her on a daily basis, ensuring the continuation of what López Obrador called “circular dialogue.”
The new presidenta also said that each mañanera del pueblo will include “a special section,” which will vary depending on the day of the week.
Healthy Mondays
“On Mondays we’re going to talk about healthy life,” Sheinbaum said.
“It’s very important that Mexicans know the effects on health of the food we call ‘junk,’ because the truth is we’re living through a pandemic of hypertension, diabetes, obesity in some cases, and it’s very important that we understand why this is happening,” Sheinbaum said.
Humanistic and historical Tuesdays
The “special section” on Tuesdays will focus on Mexican humanism and historical memory, Sheinbaum told reporters.
Mexican humanism is the name López Obrador gave to the ideology of his government and the “fourth transformation” movement he led, which is now headed up by the new president.
Sheinbaum said that historians will attend her press conferences on Tuesdays “to speak about important events” in Mexican history — a pet topic of AMLO, and one which he regularly spoke about at length.
Myth-busting Wednesdays
The president said that her Wednesday mañaneras will feature a “lie detector” section.
“We’re not just going to do a review of the lies that come out on social media or in some media outlets,” Sheinbaum said. “We’re also going to ask citizens to participate.”
The “lie detector” section looks set to be a continuation of AMLO’s “Who’s who in the lies of the week” mañanera segment, during which countless journalists and media organizations were named and shamed for allegedly false reporting.
López Obrador was a fierce critic of sections of the press, a posture for which he was widely criticized.
Press freedom advocacy group Article 19 said in 2019 that the former president’s “stigmatizing discourse” against the media “has a direct impact in terms of the … risk it can generate for the work of the press because [his remarks] permeate in the discourse of the rest of society and can even generate attacks.”
Shortly after López Obrador’s “lies of the week” segment began, the special rapporteur for freedom of expression for the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights said that the government’s practice of exposing fake news — or what it classifies as such — must be reconsidered because it could affect people’s right to a free and informed debate.
Pedro Vaca also said that the “stigmatization” of the media by the government could provoke attacks against journalists in Mexico, which is one of the most dangerous countries in the world for press workers.
Herstory Thursdays
Sheinbaum said that the “special section” on Thursdays will be called “women in history.”
“We’re going to recognize women who have participated in the history of Mexico,” she said.
In her public remarks, Sheinbaum frequently refers to prominent women in Mexican history.
In his first speech as president, she made mention of various mexicanas who preceded her, including independence heroines Josefa Ortiz de Domínguez and Leona Vicario, Mexican Revolution fighter Adela Velarde and artist Frida Kahlo.
Patriotic Fridays
Sheinbaum said that a “suave patria” (tender homeland) section will be presented on Fridays.
It will focus on “moments that make us feel proud to be Mexican,” she said.
Sheinbaum’s mañaneras will not only differ in substance from those of López Obrador, but also in style.
The Associated Press reported that AMLO’s pressers were “marathon affairs, featuring folksy dialogue, verbal jousting with the press, and, frequently, long history lessons.”
On Wednesday, “Sheinbaum kept her morning briefing shorter, less combative and more concise, in keeping with her character as a scientist and academic,” AP said.
However, the new president will hope that she can set the agenda for the Mexican media over the next six years, like López Obrador did throughout his term as president.
On Thursday, a tragic event on the day she was sworn in as president — the killing of six migrants by the Mexican army in Chiapas — partially set the mañanera agenda for her.
Mexico News Daily
