The Media Market

The working title of my dissertation is "Politics is a Blood Sport". And after watching what former Swedish trade minister Maria Borelius has had to go through the past days it must the most fitting title I could ever have come up with for a book about pack-hunt journalism.

And now, after 8 days, she can't take it anymore. Borelius resigned today (see this post for English translation) after more than a week of intense fire from the media over her personal conduct in business deals, hiring nannies without paying takes, etc etc.

What is even more interesting is that Borelius is a journalist. She knows how the media works. Still she didn't get it right from the start, and she kept making blunders. In my last book "The Public Tribunal" I explain why politicians have to play cooperate or defect with the journalist collective in certain phases of the news cycle during a pack-hunt media craze. And Borelius obviously played what game theorists call "sucker's option" every time! This is what eventually forced her to resign.
I've written about the inherent logic of media pack-hunts, ... I'll probably post more of my theories here soon.