On Venezuela, Only Hawkish ‘Dissent’ Allowed
The only allowed criticism of official policy comes from the right, demanding the US be as extreme as possible in dealing with its “enemies.”
Western Media: Venezuelan Elections Must Be Undemocratic, Because Chavismo Won
The opposition’s electoral defeat prompted some outlets to to publish sobering headlines, and others to double down on propaganda.
HBO’s Anti-Maduro Propaganda Is Cruder Than Venezuelan Oil
Western media have long developed a kind of shorthand that demands total impunity for US-backed politicians like Leopoldo López in Venezuela.
The Media Myth of ‘Once Prosperous’ and Democratic Venezuela Before Chávez
Western media have spent years conveying a lie: that Venezuela had been very prosperous and democratic until Hugo Chávez ruined everything.
Saab Case Shows Western Media’s Casual Acceptance of US Atrocities
Articles about Alex Saab’s case have ignored the powerful arguments that the sanctions are illegal under both US and international law.
Extra! Soundbites July 2021
Assaults on Choice Aren’t News (Here) Republican state lawmakers introduced more than 500 bills that would restrict abortion rights by mid-May—including some that would charge women who terminated their pregnancies with murder. But from the beginning of the year until May 16, NBC News didn’t once mention these attempts to roll back reproductive freedom. (They […]
US Sanctions Against Venezuela Cause Shortages in Diesel, Editorial Standards
As the US blockade becomes more asphyxiating to Venezuelans than ever before, corporate outlets have either turned their gaze somewhere else, or doubled down on misrepresenting sanctions.
Support the Tropes
Corporate media invoke the language of human rights and humanitarianism to convince those to the left of center to accept, if not support, US actions abroad.
UN Rebuke of US Sanctions on Venezuela Met With Stunning Silence
By omitting the devastating impact of sanctions, corporate media attribute sole responsibility for economic and humanitarian conditions to the Venezuelan government, thereby using the misery provoked by sanctions to validate the infliction of even more misery.
Humanitarian Imperialism
Media are experts in using progressives’ empathy and compassion against them, presenting them carefully selected images and stories of suffering around the world, and suggesting that US military power can be used to alleviate it.
US Media Require No Evidence for Claims of Electoral Fraud—in Venezuela
Corporate outlets have summarily denounced Trump’s bogus claims of vote fraud, thought for years they have faithfully echoed similarly spurious accusations made about elections held by official enemies.
ACTION ALERT: NYT Erases US Economic War Against Venezuela
Please remind the New York Times that as a US paper, it has an obligation to cover the effects of US government policy on countries like Venezuela.
Crying Wolf on Election Fraud Is OK at NYT—if Targets Are Official Enemies
For the New York Times, crying election fraud then staging a coup is bad, and just like what dictators do—unless it is the US making dubious claims of electoral fraud against official enemies, in which case it is an honorable practice.
Missing Perspective in Media: Iran/Venezuela Ties Are None of US’s Business
Corporate media coverage of Iranian oil shipments to Venezuela has framed the deliveries as a problem that needs to be solved, rather than a commercial transaction that doesn’t concern third parties.
WOLA: Media’s ‘Left’ Source for Pro-Coup Propaganda in Venezuela
When it comes to Venezuela, one DC-based think tank has become the Western media’s go-to source for confirming the US elite’s regime change groupthink: the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA).
US Campaign Against Cuba’s Medical Brigades Targets Healthcare, Not ‘Forced Labor’
As the Covid-19 pandemic results in increased demand for Cuban doctors around the world, corporate media appear to have shifted from vilifying them to casting them as victims of exploitation.
Corporate Media Don’t Think Americans Paid to Invade Venezuela Count as Mercenaries
In reports on a for-profit security firm’s invasion of Venezuela, the term “mercenary” was accompanied by scare quotes, as if these men could only be seen that way from the perspective of an Official US Enemy.
Guardian Blames Trump’s Murderous US Exceptionalism on Hugo Chávez
What better time to vilify the popular former leader of a country under deadly US siege than a deadly pandemic? Such was clearly the reasoning of Guardian journalist Rory Carroll when he penned an op-ed headlined, “Blunder, Distraction, Denial: Trump Follows Chávez’s Successful Template” (4/19/20). Seemingly immune to irony, Carroll compares Venezuela’s late socialist […]
‘The US Reaction to Pressure to Ease Sanctions Was to Double Down’
“If there were an opposition movement in countries like Canada and the United States and Europe, the demand wouldn’t just be, ‘You gotta stop this’; the demand would actually be, ‘Hey, we’ve got to prosecute the people involved with this. This is killing people. This is a crime. People should be facing legal consequences for this.’”
Corporate Media Cover for US Mob Threats Against Venezuela
The Trump administration unveiled on March 31 a “democratic transition” plan to remove Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro from office. Washington’s stenographers in the corporate press were quick to present the initiative as “sanctions relief.”
