Postcard from Bishkek

I wasn’t sure whether to post this or not … for a start, I wasn’t sure that I wanted to give it any publicity, but when I found a particular post on the website of the Portland Mercury, it made me see red … and I felt that I just had to respond.

Here’s an email I sent to the “webmaster” of the site:

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I am writing about the Blogtown article by Sarah Mirk for March 8th, “Which Countries Are the Best for Women? NOT US.“  (http://blogtown.portlandmercury.com/BlogtownPDX/archives/2011/03/08/which-countries-are-the-best-for-women-not-us).

I appreciate that the webmaster may not be the most appropriate person to direct comments about editorial content, but I couldn’t tell from your “contacts” page to whom I should address my thoughts … and anyway, it does say “(Pick the best one, and only one. If you accidentally send it to the wrong person, we know how the forward button works.)”     Just in case you haven’t read it … here’s what the article says:

Today is the 100th Anniversary of International Women’s Day and the New York Times Economix blog has a good article up about which countries are the best for women.

Surprise, surprise, no matter which way you slice the stats, the United States doesn’t make it in the top ten most gender-equitable counties. The blog gives a rundown of four major studies that calculate women’s equality and well-being based on factors like life expectancy, literacy, earnings, and political participation. Depending on what factors you look at, we rank anywhere from 13th to 65th compared to all the countries in the world.

Who comes out on top every time? Those Scandanavians: Netherlands, Sweden, and Denmark.

One of the big things holding us back: Adolescent fertility rate. For a variety of reasons (terrible sex ed, poverty, restrictive abortion laws and stigma) we have a teenage birth rate in the United States on par with Thailand, Armenia, and Kyrgyzstan. Fuckin’ Kyrgyzstan! And still the debate in our country is stalled at whether or not to fund Planned Parenthood, rather than addressing the fact that, yes, women’s health in our nation is in crisis.

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This doesn’t strike me as a glowing example of American journalism.  For example, perhaps someone could explain, to me just when the Netherlands started to be considered to be part of Scandinavia?

Then, what about that emboldened, “Fuckin’ Kyrgyzstan!” … Was that meant to be a pun?  The title looks like it’s meant to be a pun.  Maybe she just likes puns.  Even if she knows something about Kyrgyzstan that I don’t, it seems and odd comment to include when making a serious point on a serious topic.

Her profile notes that she writes on “development”, (although it doesn’t say what sort of development), but then, it also says that she reports “mainly on transportation, bikes, … crazy people … pie baking and comic books”.  Just what aspect of her profile does this piece fit?

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It makes me wonder why anyone should take seriously what she, and the Portland Mercury, have to say.

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OK, I admit that maybe it would have been better to send it to the author herself, or to the chief editor,  but the options available to me on the contacts page were:

SEND YOUR NEWS TIPS, POLITICAL GOSSIP, AND PORTLAND OR OREGON-FOCUSED STORY IDEAS TO OUR CRACK NEWS TEAM:

GOT MUSIC NEWS TO SHARE? QUESTIONS ABOUT OUR POOR MUSICAL TASTE? MUSIC CALENDAR LISTINGS? SEND IT HERE:

ANY AND ALL INFORMATION ABOUT BOOKS, COMICS, THEATER, VISUAL ARTS, DANCE, AND PERFORMANCE ART SHOULD BE DIRECTED TO:

SEND ALL FILM AND VIDEOGAME-RELATED NEWS, EVENT INFO, AND REVIEW REQUESTS TO:

DIRECT YOUR JUICY FOOD NEWS, RECIPES, RESTAURANTS, BARS, HAPPY HOURS AND EATING AND DRINKING EVENTS RIGHT HERE:

SEND ALL FASHION, SHOPPING, BEAUTY, HEALTH AND FITNESS NEWS, GOSSIP, AND OPINIONS TO:

HATE MAIL, RECIPES, MASH NOTES? SEND THEM TO:

CONFESSIONS? APOLOGIES? ACCUSATIONS?

GIMME A JOB! PUBLISH MY WORK!

FOR SALES AND DISPLAY ADVERTISING INFORMATION:

WEB RELATED QUESTIONSWANT TO CARRY THE PAPER IN YOUR BUSINESS, SUGGEST A DISTRIBUTION LOCATION, OR SUBSCRIBE? HAVE PROBLEMS WITH A NEWSPAPER BOX OR RACK?:

I think that list says a lot about the attitude and approach of the paper.

As it happens, I think that the author was making a serious point on a serious issue, and I presume that she knows her audience and adjusts her content accordingly, but I do wish that she had chosen a different way to do it!

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Tags: Expat, In_the_News, Press