International Affairs: A Young Reporter Is Lured Into Investigating Tyrants

Katarina Carlsson has been down on her luck, is broke and out of work. Then, in a chance meeting she lands a job as a reporter for a New York newspaper and is assigned to investigate how tyrants are taking over democracies world-wide, and what the dynamics of this trend are, and to write that news story. A tough undertaking, especially for her first assignment as an investigative journalist. And, unbeknownst to her, the Editor-in-Chief has given her this “impossible” assignment simply to get her to fail and, therefore, quickly resign.

 This novice reporter knows that in many of the recent elections across South America and Europe, far-right candidates have had a strong showing. This is true in Germany, Italy, Poland, Denmark, Sweden, and Spain. History reveals that far-right politicians, if elected, sometimes strive to become dictators. As an example, in Brazil, Turkey, Venezuela, Syria and Hungary, far-right leaders are now dictators and run the governments. Vladimir Putin of Russia, Xi Jinping of China, and Kim Jung-un of North Korea are, of course, infamous dictators.

 Yet, Katarina confronts this task with a determination that perhaps only a naïve reporter could have. As an investigator, she travels to China, Hungary, Brazil, Peru, Turkey, and Venezuela to interview people and gather data. The only problem is, these are all countries where representative governments have turned into dictatorships. This presents some real obstructions for a young American accustomed to freedom of speech. Each destination is unique, presenting barriers (finding sources of reliable information) and dangers (authoritarian police forces) which she must face and overcome.