The Fallibles
Current Affairs, Non-Fiction
The credibility of politics is at stake
Cover-ups. Denials. Kicking the can down the road. Salami tactics. This is how politicians deal with political errors of judgement and personal blunders. Recently, politicians have started vigorously owning up to their mistakes, but only once these are already out in the open and criticism is mounting. And that is when it is not the mistakes themselves that are politically explosive, but how they are dealt with. The consequences are political unrest and mistrust. The political correspondent Helene Bubrowski analyses politicians’ misdemeanours, scandals and resignations. She paints a clear picture of the oft en aggravating role the media play in this, sketching out what a better culture of failure could look like.
• Precise analysis and fascinating inside view of the political system
• A highly topical issue: the credibility of politicians
Helene Bubrowski, born 1981, has been a political correspondent in Berlin for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung since 2018, responsible for coverage of the Green Party, home affairs, and legal policy. Ever since Andreas Scheuer (Angela Merkel’s Transport Minister, who was accused of mishandling autobahn tolls and then covering this up) explained to her on a talk show in 2020 how he had done nothing wrong, she has focused on how politicians deal with their mistake and errors of judgement.
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The credibility of politics is at stake
Cover-ups. Denials. Kicking the can down the road. Salami tactics. This is how politicians deal with political errors of judgement and personal blunders. Recently, politicians have started vigorously owning up to their mistakes, but only once these are already out in the open and criticism is mounting. And that is when it is not the mistakes themselves that are politically explosive, but how they are dealt with. The consequences are political unrest and mistrust. The political correspondent Helene Bubrowski analyses politicians’ misdemeanours, scandals and resignations. She paints a clear picture of the oft en aggravating role the media play in this, sketching out what a better culture of failure could look like.
• Precise analysis and fascinating inside view of the political system
• A highly topical issue: the credibility of politicians