FAIR Action Alert: Parade Magazine's Chavez Smear

[Douglas Carpenter]

Action Alert from the good people at FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting) web site: http://www.fair.org/index.php

Parade Magazine's Chavez Smear
Venezuelan president a terrorist funder?

10/12/05

On October 9, Parade magazine--the Sunday newspaper supplement with a circulation of 34.5 million, making it the country's most widely distributed magazine--published an inaccurate smear against Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. The smear, appearing in the Q&A column "Walter Scott's Personality Parade," was a response to a letter writer who wanted to know "where Fidel Castro gets the dough to shore up his bankrupt regime." Scott's full answer was:

"In the wake of the collapse of the USSR, which bankrolled him to the tune of $4 billion a year, Castro has turned to Hugo Chavez, Marxist president of Venezuela, the world's fifth-largest oil exporter. In addition to shoring up Castro, he's funding revolutionaries and terrorists throughout Latin America."

Scott's two-sentence response managed to misrepresent several issues. Chavez is not a Marxist; asked about his politics by the left-wing publication CounterPunch (8/16/04), Chavez replied: "I don't believe in the dogmatic postulates of Marxist revolution. I don't accept that we are living in a period of proletarian revolutions.... Are we aiming in Venezuela today for the abolition of private property or a classless society? I don't think so." Chavez describes himself as a Bolivarian, a follower of the 19th Century Latin American independence leader Simon Bolivar.

And while Venezuela does provide discounted oil to Cuba, more than 20,000 Cuban doctors are sent to work in Venezuela in exchange; the relationship is mutually beneficial.

As for Scott's claim that Chavez is funding "revolutionaries and terrorists throughout Latin America," Parade should provide evidence for this charge or issue a retraction. The U.S. State Department, hardly a pro-Chavez source, does not include Venezuela among the list of state sponsors of terrorism in its most recent "Country Reports on Terrorism" (4/05). The report's section on Venezuela only alleges that "it is unclear to what extent" Venezuela might support any of the principal combatants in Colombia's long-running civil war. The report goes on to mention, however, that the Colombia and Venezuela governments have cooperated on some terrorism-related cases, and that several Venezuelan National Guard officers were reportedly killed by FARC forces near the border between the two countries.

While some anti-Chavez partisans have claimed that Chavez supports various terrorist groups, they have failed to back up these allegations with evidence. For example, Pat Robertson--the right-wing televangelist who has called for Chavez's assassination (700 Club, 8/22/05)--recently claimed on CNN (10/9/05) that Chavez "sent $1.2 million in cash to Osama bin Laden right after 9/11." When asked for evidence, Robertson could only claim that "sources that came to me" told him of the transaction.

"Walter Scott" is the pseudonym of Edward Klein, the author of the "The Truth About Hillary," a biography of Hillary Rodham Clinton that is riddled with errors (Media Matters, 6/23/05). Klein's book relies overwhelmingly on anonymous sources to make a series of lurid claims and innuendos, asking peculiar questions like, "Were there any telltale signs on the presidential sheets that ever had sex with each other?" Klein's book also floats the suggestion that that Chelsea Clinton was conceived as a result of Bill Clinton raping Hillary while on vacation in Bermuda. Perhaps Parade should consider whether "Scott"'s journalism deserves closer scrutiny.

ACTION:
Please call on Parade Magazine to either provide evidence for its claim that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is "funding revolutionaries and terrorists throughout Latin America" or else issue a retraction of the unattributed charge.

CONTACT:
Personality Parade
[e-mail]

Parade Magazine
Lee Kravitz, editor
[e-mail]

If your local newspaper includes Parade in its Sunday edition, you might want to send your letter to them as well.

[AllyCat]

1. Oh I still have this issue of Parade sitting around. Never even read it

Will get a letter off to them. Thanks!

[Divernan]

2. Post this thread again later in the day - it's important.

This is a very good exposure of a widely circulated column. I happen to have insomnia tonight so am reading this around 4:30 am. Please repost it as a new thread around noon east coast time to generate a lot more emails to Parade.

I just emailed the editor of Parade a blistering review of Klein's libelous statements, and also the deceit in not revealing the true author of the column. I closed by pointing out Bush's plumeting poll numbers, calling Bush an UNPOPULAR president, and referring to his FAILED PRESIDENCY. I think we should use those two descriptors at every opportunity.
I also pointed out that the country and his readers would be better served by a columnist answering questions about Frist's illegal stock dealings and Chaney's unconscionable,
$8million profits on his Haliburton stock options while in office, and influencing no-bid contract awards to Haliburton.

[donheld]

3. Kick, We should send Parade E-mail setting them straight.

Thanks for posting this. I don't read "Parade" but many, many do.


Walter Scott

[e-mail]

Editor

[e-mail]

[JohnnyCougar]

4. This is a worthy project.

I will take it up tomorrow. As for now....:boring:

[leftchick]

5. This is Excellent! Time for e-mails!

Lots of them!!!

[annabanana]

6. the smear should not go unanswered...

It's this kind of gratuitous rightwing "throwaway" piece that plants the seeds for faulty "conventional wisdom" that enables gross misconduct by this administration.

(Fired off a note objecting to propaganda in the celebrity puff-fest)

[hellbound-liberal]

7. Here's my letter to Parade and the Washington "Com-post"

get others on board we must challenge this!

Dear Editor, In regards to "Walter Scott's" (aka Edward Klein) recent attempt at character assasination on Hugo Chavez, the democratically elected President of Venezuela, I demand that you either provide substantiation for his claims or issue a full retraction of his slanderous remarks. You have no business printing unsubstantiated claims about his political leanings or any suspected contributions that he has made to so-called "terrorists". It is these types of lies and misrepresentations that were promulgated by you and the rest of the Corporate media that helped Bush promote an illegitimate and ill-conceived war on the people of Iraq and has led to the deaths of over 2000 American soldiers, their permanent disbilities for which we will all have to pay for the rest of their lives, and the deaths of tens of thousands of INNOCENT Iraqi civilians. I demand that you retract Mr. Klein's statements and refrain from this type of behavior in the future. I am sending a copy of this letter to my local paper and urging thousands of others to do the same.

[elehhhhna]

8. Parade Magazine? PLEASE. How'd you find that column in

the midst of all their cool full page ads for plasticy grandma pants, uglyass baby dolls, craptacular real-fake-commemorative "coins", and miracle nutraceutical bullshit?

LOL

[elehhhhna]

9. Their auto-response email links to this , LOL-- "Writers Guidelines"

We seek unique angles on all topics—this is especially important for subjects that have already received national attention in newspapers and other media.

Topics must appeal to a broad audience.




http://www.parade.com/business/writer_guidelines.html

[Helga Scow Stern]

10. Done! Bastards.

[Angry Girl]

11. I already LOATHE Parade, which is the worst "apple-pie" propaganda

It's like the Today Show in print..... *brrrr*

Why, yes, I'd absolutely love to tell them off! Thank you!

Nightweed's Disaster Relief Page

[Douglas Carpenter]

12. kick please