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Related: About this forumMedia Distortions about Venezuela Not Just a Problem in the U.S.
Media Distortions about Venezuela Not Just a Problem in the U.S.
Written by Mark Weisbrot
Friday, 28 March 2014 14:57
I sometimes complain about U.S. media coverage of Venezuela, which is mostly one-sided and sometimes terribly inaccurate. But compared to most of the Latin American media, U.S. reporting is practically fair and balanced. Check out this amazing front page banner headline of Perus biggest newspaper, El Comercio, on Sunday, March 16 (photo below). Translation: 94 percent of Peruvians reject the Chavista model; sub-headline: 82 percent of those interviewed consider the government of Venezuela to be a dictatorship.
Imagine the New York Times running a headline like this. How ridiculous would they look? People would wonder: is this news in the U.S.? What percentage of the U.S. population knows or cares what the Chavista model is, or has an informed opinion on whether Venezuelas democratically-elected government is actually a dictatorship? Not to mention that you would be hard-pressed to find a political scientist who specializes in Latin America who would accept the label 'dictatorship' for Venezuela.
Now I know what you are thinking. Peru is a bit closer to Venezuela and is part of South America. Peruvians speak the same language as Venezuelans. So, maybe there is some kind of buzz about the Chavista model in Peru or some great concern among the masses about the state of constitutional democracy in Venezuela.
Well, no. Peruvians are no more likely than residents of the United States to know anything about the Chavista model or about Venezuela in general. This journalism looks pretty much as irrelevant and strange in Peru as it would be if the New York Times had run the same headlines. The only qualifier I would add is that, since the media and right-wing politicians scream about Venezuela as in this headline, they are able to create a certain McCarthyist fear among some sectors. Sometimes they use this fear without necessarily any real connection -- against political opponents (e.g. as they did successfully in defeating the current President Ollanta Humalas first presidential bid in 2006). But that is not much different from what the Florida Cuban-American U.S. Representatives and their neocon allies are doing in the U.S. Congress right now.
More:
http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/the-americas-blog/media-distortions-about-venezuela-not-just-a-problem-in-the-us
djean111
(14,255 posts)"Chavista steals sandwich from little girl"!!!!!! "Horrible traffic jams due to no toilet paper in Venezuela"!
MADem
(135,425 posts)Judi Lynn
(160,452 posts)I think EFerrari started it, and divulged that Hugo Chavez stole mail from people's mail boxes. Also took her lunch!
Yes, they most certain are freakily predictable, and they are recycled endlessly.
As you have seen, they have been carried over, like a legacy, to attach to Nicolas Maduro. So thoughtful!
Bacchus4.0
(6,837 posts)COLGATE4
(14,732 posts)except Venezuela" Weisbrot Chavez love letter.
Bacchus4.0
(6,837 posts)COLGATE4
(14,732 posts)I also suspect he likes it, too.
Bacchus4.0
(6,837 posts)worst government in the hemisphere and they somehow believe its a success.
Marksman_91
(2,035 posts)And I tell ya, they sure don't show the regime in a good light: