Associated Press Falsely Portrays Chavez as Seeking 25-Year Term

[Minstrel Boy]

Associated Press Falsely Portrays Chavez as Seeking 25-Year Term

Monday, May 08, 2006

By: Justin Delacour - Latin America News Review

A little scrutiny of a recent Associated Press report about Venezuela provides a lesson in how the English-language press often gets the story wrong. Take the first sentence: "President Hugo Chavez said Saturday that Venezuelan voters should have the chance to decide whether he should govern the country for the next 25 years."

No, such a referendum would not be about "whether he should govern the country for the next 25 years." A referendum would be about whether Chavez would be permitted to run every six years and --in the event that he were to continue winning elections-- serve multiple presidential terms. The AP report's opening sentence makes it sound as if such a referendum would do away with elections in Venezuela, as if its intent would be to grant Chavez a new 25-year term in office! The website of The Calgary Sun even titles the wire report "Chavez seeking 25-year term"!!

This is obviously an extremely poor piece of reporting. Chavez made it clear that, if the opposition committed to participating in the upcoming presidential election, he would not convoke a referendum to end presidential term limits. He explained that the intent of his threat to convoke such a referendum was not to perpetuate himself in power but rather to defend the Bolivarian Revolution. Fortunately, Agence France Press (AFP) got the story right. The opening sentence of AFP's Spanish-language report reads, "Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez claimed Saturday that, if the opposition decides not to run candidates in the December presidential election, he could decree a referendum to permit his reelection for multiple terms until 2031."

...

When Venezuela's opposition knows it's going to lose an election, it has a tendency to try to delegitimize the electoral process. Instead of facing up to the fact that it is unpopular, the business-led opposition tries to shift the blame for its electoral misfortunes to the National Electoral Council (CNE). The opposition claims that the CNE could commit "fraud" and that the vote might not be secret. Opposition conspiracy theories of this nature are legion. Never mind that there have been international observers on hand that have testified to the fairness of Venezuela's elections. Never mind that even the opposition's own polls show that Chavez is much more popular than they are.

...

http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/articles.php?artno=1723

[EFerrari]

1. What about that baby eating? Is that fake, too?

:)

[Vidar]

2. Thanks for posting. Knew the info but this needs to get out. K&R

[niyad]

3. I figured it was something like that--the AP article just didn't make any

sense. seems there is a LOT of "mistranslation" going on this week.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

5. ditto. It just seemed to be a complete 180 from his usual behavior

I wrote it off right away, because it just felt "wrong". Didn't did in to it though, glad Minstrel Boy did!

[Up2Late]

4. Well, at least we know who to demand a correction from!

CHRISTOPHER TOOTHAKER!

It is a very lame article, but usually these come from UPI or News Corp editors.

[Judi Lynn]

11. He's done some other abominable articles before, too. Sigh. n/t

[Up2Late]

16. I was wondering about that, did you save any links to other bogus stories

...that he's written in the past?

I wonder if it's even an actual person, it's a very odd name. It could just be the name someone uses when they want to plant crap like this in the Media, which then gets further distorted by the RW Noise Machine.

[ConsAreLiars]

6. Well, the predictable anti-Chavez DUers bought the scam

hook, line and sinker. It is remarkable how easily they get played by anti-Chavez prpoaganda, and then run with it. Fools? Knaves? Or just pathetic dittoheads?

[Media_Lies_Daily]

7. Thanks, MB....a good find, as usual! :-)

[Old and In the Way]

8. Thanks for posting this.

It occurs to me that the Lamestream media would happily allow this misconception to go unreported. Sad that truth is a casualty in our country today.

[0rganism]

9. bumping, to keep it up with the anti-Chavez thread du jour

The truth is out there, but sometimes we're just too dense to look for it.

[Judi Lynn]

10. Just found out you had this article from your post on the other thread,

with the link to this one.

Wanted to make sure it was clear I didn't swipe your article before I posted it around a few minutes ago, before seeing you posted it FIRST.

I hope the comprehension-impaired posters who couldn't grasp the meaning of Hugo Chavez's election boycott remarks will FINALLY get a clue about it all now.

People tried to explain to them in the last few days, but they just couldn't figure it all out.

Thank you for this thread and the link to it. It will surely save some of these people some time!

[Minstrel Boy]

12. kick, for those who've missed it.

[earth mom]

13. K & R! eom

[ShaneGR]

14. But he is lifting term limits? no?

And if he is, you are ok with that? Under that logic, would it have been ok for Bush to lift his term limit?

[SidDithers]

15. What is so sacred about term limits?...nt

Sid

[SeattleRob]

17. There's a difference...

Elections down there are clean - and have been watched by international observers. Sadly, the same can't be said for us.

[Minstrel Boy]

18. I bolded the text

so it wouldn't be missed:

"Chavez made it clear that, if the opposition committed to participating in the upcoming presidential election, he would not convoke a referendum to end presidential term limits."

Though honestly, what's the objection to lifting them if its supported by a democratic referendum? He would still be governing at the pleasure of the people. Most democracies don't have term limits, and I'm glad we don't have them here.

[rman]

20. No

He is proposing a referendum on the extension of term limits under the condition of election boycott by the opposition.

When was the last time there was a referendum in the US anyway?

[shance]

19. Wow. Thank you for presenting the accuracy amidst such inaccuracy.

More spin from the 'mainstream media'.