Analysis: Media Watch

Coup and Countercoup, Revolution!

By Eva Golinger - Correo del Orinoco International, Apr 13th 2010

President Chavez returns to the presidential palace following the coup

In just 47 hours, a coup d’etat ousted President Chavez and a countercoup returned him to power, in an extraordinary showing of the will and determination of a dignified people on a revolutionary path with no return. The mass media played a major role in advancing the coup and spreading false information internationally in order to justify the coup plotters’ actions. CIA documents revealed US government involvement and support to the coup organizers.

Political Prisoners in Venezuela?

By Eva Golinger - Correo del Orinoco International, Apr 8th 2010

When politicians and political actors commit crimes, can they hide behind cries of persecution? As international organizations backed by Washington condemn the Chavez administration for alleged political persecution, the facts shed light on the difference between activism and crime.

Venezuela: The people’s fight for a fair hearing

By Pablo Navarrete - Green Left Weekly, Mar 29th 2010

"Inside the Revolution: A Journey into the Heart of Venezuela" is a documentary filmed in Caracas in November 2008, on the eve of the 10th anniversary of Chavez’s presidency. Navarette says he wanted the documentary to provide audiences outside Venezuela an alternative narrative to the one offered by the mainstream media.

Contradictory Claims over Venezuelan Links to Terrorism Expose Rifts within Obama Administration

By Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to the U.S. , Mar 23rd 2010

Recent contradictions in statements by senior U.S. officials on alleged links between Venezuela and terrorist groups have exposed rifts within the Obama administration and provide evidence of the politicization of intelligence regarding Venezuela.

The Anti-Venezuela Election Campaign

By Mark Weisbrot - The Guardian, Mar 20th 2010

Venezuela's election is not until September, but the international campaign to delegitimise the government has already begun

Venezuela’s Anti-Hegemonic Aid In Haiti

By Kiraz Janicke - Venezuelanalysis.com, Feb 23rd 2010

In the Huffington Post, freelance journalist Patrick Adams implies that there is something untoward and problematic about the Venezuelan aid effort in earthquake ravaged Haiti. Perhaps it's that the approach of the Venezuelan aid effort is not to impose conditions or win lucrative reconstruction contracts, but rather to help provide Haitians with tools with which they can organise and empower their communities.

Truth over delusion: Hugo Chavez did not accuse the U.S. of causing the Haitian earthquake

By The Anti Press, Feb 3rd 2010

On January 19, Spanish newspaper ABC, a newspaper of record in Spain, published a story entitled Chavez accuses US of causing earthquake in Haiti. The story was quickly picked up by websites around the globe, however no such thing was ever uttered by Chavez.

Venezuela, Honduras, Peru, Ecuador: “Small” Oversights and “Big” Lies

By Eric Toussaint, Oct 22nd 2009

The hostility of the majority of major European and North American media companies toward the current events in Ecuador, Bolivia, and Venezuela is only matched by an embarrassed, complicit silence with regard to those involved in the putsch in Honduras or the repression enacted by the Peruvian army against the indigenous populations of the Amazon.

Iniquitous Critics of Hugo Chávez

By Colin Burgon - Tribune, Sep 16th 2009

"In the end", said Martin Luther King, "we will remember not the words of our enemies but the silence of our friends." His words are relevant to every social struggle and are especially pertinent to the ongoing fight for social justice in Latin America, where media manipulation and forces hostile to the positive changes of the last decade conspire to return nations such as Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador and Honduras to an imposed neo-liberal economic model.

Oliver Stone: “The Truth about Hugo Chávez”

By Oliver Stone - The Guardian, Sep 8th 2009

Oliver Stone's South of the Border… Oliver Stone with President Hugo Chavez (Jose Ibanez)

South of the Border is Oscar-winning director Oliver Stone's record of a trip to Venezuela to meet the president, Hugo Chávez. Ahead of the film's premiere at the Venice film festival on Monday, Stone writes about his hopes for the film, and the future of US foreign policy in the region.

The Venezuelan Coup Revisited: Silencing the Evidence

By Gregory Wilpert - NACLA, Jul 2nd 2009

Now a book-length treatment of the April 2002 coup against Chavez is available: Brian Nelson's The Silence and the Scorpion. It is a shame that a progressive publisher like Nation Books would publish such a one-sided account of the coup against Chávez and thereby contribute to the already overwhelming media meme that Chávez and his supporters are violent brutes.

Victory in Venezuela: Chavez, Progress and Media Coverage

By C. Edward Anable - UpsideDownWorld.org, Feb 17th 2009

Hugo Chavez has won again. It represents a larger margin than that gained by Barack Obama when he defeated John McCain in the U.S. presidential elections. So the question is why is Hugo Chavez portrayed in the western media as such a threat?

Venezuela’s Referendum: Media’s Double Standards

By Steve Rendall & Isabel Macdonald - CommonDreams, Feb 16th 2009

It would seem the role of U.S. reporting and opinion on Venezuela (and Colombia) is less about informing the public about real threats to democracy and human rights in Latin America than it is about serving as a propaganda arm of U.S. foreign policy. One would be wise to remember this when reading about Venezuela’s referendum this weekend.

Human Rights Coverage of Venezuela and Colombia Serving Washington’s Needs

By Steve Rendall and Daniel Ward and Tess Hall - FAIR, Feb 3rd 2009

Editorial evaluations of human rights situations.

Rather than independently and critically assessing the Colombian and Venezuelan records, major corporate newspaper editors, to one degree or another, have subordinated crucial human rights questions to what they see as the U.S.’s interests in the region.

Bashing Venezuelan Democracy

By Stephen Lendman, Jan 28th 2009

For 10 years under Chavez, Bolivarianism has flourished, and the greater its success the harsher it's critics. America flounders in corruption, economic chaos and decline. Venezuela's star is rising.