Justice and corruption

Some weeks ago, an opinion poll was published at Metroscopia website, gathering Spanish citizen’s opinion about justice and corruption, and the results were rather discouraging.
To the question "Do you think that the investigation on Gürtel case will be completed on a reasonable amount of time and those involved will be eventually prosecuted and condemned?", 78% of respondents replied that they don’t. When this same question is formulated for Urdangarin case, the answer is quite similar: 77% replied that they don’t.
When those polled are asked why justice is so slow when dealing with corruption cases, most people have a clear answer: 85% believe that political parties and lobbies put pressure, and 65% believe that judges are afraid of the negative consequences of such trials on their professional careers if bigwigs are eventually condemned. 
Also, 87% of respondents consider that a unit of anticorruption judges should be created, as there is a unit of anticorruption prosecutors.

Sources:
Metroscopia website: http://www.metroscopia.org/
“Clima social” survey, March 2013: http://www.metroscopia.org/climasocial/item/clima-social-octubre-2012-copy-2-copy-copy-copy-copy?category_id=3
        
     
   
   
    

Responsible water consumption

This summer Barcelona will be host to the 15th World Swimming Championships. It is a good chance to raise awareness about water problems, so we wrote the script of seven videos, each lasting for about one or two minutes, with all kinds of information about water. The producer Brutal Media is the author of these videos, which you can watch here:

1.- How much water is there in the world?





2.- Fresh water, salt water




3.- Drinking water


4.- Water consumption in Barcelona


5.- Virtual water



6.- The water cycle



7.- A finite resource



Sources:

1. Barcelona 2013 15th World Championships:
   http://www.bcn2013.com/en/inicio
2. Our posts about water issues: http://www.deliveringdata.com/search/label/WATER
3. Brutal Media: http://brutalmedia.tv/BRUTALMEDIA.TV/esp_nueva_web.html

     
     
     
    
   

The Spanish army against the French army

Last Easter, François Hollande, President of France, announced that in the following five years the French military expenditure will be not increased, resulting in a cut of 30,000 million euros. He also plans to make redundant one third of the French army, which is currently made up of 300,000 soldiers. This is the most significant cut executed in the French defence budget so far.
Last summer, the British army also announced major cuts: 20,000 out of the current 120,000 soldiers of the British army will be made redundant.
What about Spain, where the financial crisis is much more devastating than in those two countries? No news, on the contrary. In Spain there is twice the number of soldiers than in the UK (despite having 16 million inhabitants less). There are no cuts, but on top of it, the budget for the Spanish army will be increased in 28.21%.
On this same day when these cuts in the French army were announced, newspapers also reported how the Spanish defence budget is wasted: a pilgrimage to Lourdes for 17 military men and police officers, costing 12,331 euros.

Sources:

1. France announces a cut in its military budget: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/9955667/French-defence-cuts-could-harm-British-military-partnership.html
2. Cuts in the British army: http://www.deliveringdata.com/2012/07/cutout-soldiers.html
3. Increase in the Spanish defence budget: http://www.deliveringdata.com/2012/09/a-crisis-free-army.html
4. The Spanish Ministry of Defence finances a pilgrimage to Lourdes: http://www.laicismo.org/detalle.php?pk=20067

      
      
      

Advertising in the classroom

Channel One News is a twelve-minute satellite television programme broadcast in the USA. Designed as a ‘current affairs’ bulletin aimed at children and teenagers, the programme is often full of trivial reports about celebrities and attractive lifestyles. Of the twelve-minute running time, two are wholly dedicated to advertisements.

In 1989, the directors of Channel One signed an agreement with 12,000 of the 50,000 primary and high schools across the USA to show the programme in classrooms. In exchange, the broadcaster would subsidise the schools’ video equipment and audiovisual material. Eight million students watch the programme almost daily alongside their teachers.

Of course, the majority of schools that have signed up to the agreement are located in poor and marginalised neighbourhoods, which would not otherwise be able to afford audiovisual resources. The programme has received a lot of criticism due to the fact that these twelve minutes every day add up to six teaching days being lost each year, one of which is entirely dedicated to advertising. The annual cost to the taxpayer of these six teaching days is 1.8 billion dollars.

In addition, the fact that this programme is seen in class accompanied by teachers leaves the children even more vulnerable to the dangers of advertising. If you see it in class, it must be good for you. Therefore, those hamburgers that your teachers showed you must be good for your health.

Research shows that the children that see this programme in class are more willing, on average, to accept statements such as ‘brand clothing is better’ or even ‘a good car is more important than a good education’.

The products advertised include fast food brands, soft drinks, video games, Hollywood films and plenty of other items that are hardly beneficial to the wellbeing of the kids. Advertisements have even included army recruitment campaigns and messages sponsored by tobacco companies.

Sources:

1. You can find this and other examples of the extremes that child advertising has reached in Juliet B. Schor’s book ‘Born to buy. The Commercialized Child and the New Consumer Culture’: http://www.aef.com/on_campus/classroom/book_excerpts/data/3005
2. Channel One News: http://www.channelone.com/