THIS is an Expert

More than once I have ranted and raved about the use of journalists as experts on Latin America. Not content to write the news or their tired little books on drug violence (The Last Narco, Killing Pablo, etc.) they become the source for television news sources too lazy or too mired in sound bites to sit down with real experts in the field for an interview. Today, however, Huffington Post gets a rare huzzah from me for the column by Jeff Rubin of Boston University on Brazil. Balanced, level headed, full of specific examples and historical context, Rubin provides commentary on the region that we just don't see from the mainstream reporters with their sensationalist hyperbole limited knowledge. For more on Rubin, see here.