Required reading

Quico says: These days, “required reading” is just an empty cliché, a phrase drained of meaning by decades of lazy overuse. Normally, I avoid it. I have to...

Quico says: These days, “required reading” is just an empty cliché, a phrase drained of meaning by decades of lazy overuse. Normally, I avoid it.

I have to make an exception for Tina Rosenberg’s New York Times Magazine cover story on the Perils of Petrocracy, though. Covering an immense amount of material fairly, honestly, and engagingly, her piece illuminates the petrostate disease with exceptional clarity. Remarkable stuff from start to finish.

After all these years, I still don’t have a clear understanding of why Venezuelans are incapable of producing journalism of this caliber.