HELPING OR DESTROYING? GENERALLY ACCEPTED CRITICISM OF THE INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND AND THE MEDIA PROBLEM
HELPING OR DESTROYING? GENERALLY ACCEPTED CRITICISM OF THE INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND AND THE MEDIA PROBLEM

Summary/Abstract: 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.

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