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href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/13344">https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/13344</a></font>
<h1 id="reader-title">The Media on Venezuela: Double Standards
and First Impressions</h1>
<div id="reader-credits" class="credits">By Ricardo Vaz –
September 4th 2017</div>
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<p>The lead-up to the Constituent Assembly <a
href="http://www.investigaction.net/en/venezuela-elections-resurgent-chavismo-and-unrecognised-democracy/">elections</a> was
full of threats and refusals to recognise the results
from the US and its subordinates near and far. After
the vote took place, with over 8M voters
participating, the mainstream media started behaving
like the audience of “The Price is Right” (1). Any
claim of a different turnout, invariably without any
evidence, was thrown at the readers.</p>
<p>But the ideal weapon came when <a
href="https://www.smartmatic.com/news/article/smartmatic-statement-on-the-recent-constituent-assembly-election-in-venezuela/">Smartmatic</a>,
the company responsible for the voting machines and
software, claimed that “without any doubt” the voting
total had been inflated by, according to their
“estimations”, at least 1M votes. The Venezuelan
electoral authorities (CNE) promptly reacted by saying
that the company, while responsible for the system,
had <a href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/13279">no
access</a> to electoral data, and as such whatever
estimates they produced were baseless. Given that the
electoral results were published a few days later, the
logical reasoning would put the burden on Smartmatic
to release evidence to back their claims. In the press
conference, Smartmatic CEO Antonio Mugica said that
the company had not shared the evidence with the CNE
because they would not be “<a
href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/aug/02/venezuela-poll-turnout-figures-manipulated-by-at-least-1m-votes">sympathetic</a>”
to it. But why not share it with the western media,
which is more than sympathetic to it?</p>
<p>As it turns out, there was no need to present
evidence, because the standards are different when it
comes to Venezuela. Smartmatic’s press conference was
more than enough for the media, who now parrot that it
was “<a
href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/aug/08/venezuela-hugo-chavez-ruben-avila-interview-political-chaos">revealed</a>”
that the voting figures were inflated. So any
allegation that conforms to the mainstream narrative
and goes against the Venezuelan government does not
need to be proven, and is used henceforth either as a
fact or to provide instant denial. By contrast, the
Venezuelan opposition enjoys a free ride when it comes
to fact-checking of their statements. We can thank the
BBC for a blatant demonstration of these <a
href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-40983115">double
standards</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Venezuela’s electoral authorities said more than
eight million people, or 41.5% of the electorate,
had voted, a figure the company that provided the
voting system said was inflated.</p>
<p>The opposition boycotted the poll and also held an
unofficial referendum in which they said more than
seven million Venezuelans voted against the
constituent assembly.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The official vote, whose results have been <a
href="http://www.leyresorte.gob.ve/2017/08/comando-zamora-solicita-al-cne-completar-el-100-de-auditorias/">audited</a>, <a
href="http://www.conelmazodando.com.ve/expertos-electorales-resultados-de-la-anc-en-venezuela-son-veridicos-y-confiables-ceela/">vouched
for</a>, and <a
href="http://constituyente2017.cne.gob.ve/">published</a>,
has to be immediately countered, even though
Smartmatic provided nothing to back their claims. In
comparison, the opposition’s claimed turnout from
their “<a
href="http://www.investigaction.net/en/venezuelan-opposition-consultation-playing-alone-and-losing/">consultation</a>”,
of which all records were burned, is free from anyone
contradicting it, even though there are strong reasons
to doubt it.</p>
<p>The <a
href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/02/world/americas/venezuela-election-turnout.html">New
York Times</a> went one step further, echoing an
opposition leader’s claim that people had voted
multiple times. This was in fact proven to be
impossible by a <a
href="http://albaciudad.org/2017/08/video-un-periodista-intento-votar-varias-veces-en-las-elecciones-del-domingo-vea-lo-que-le-paso/">journalist</a>.
And we can only wonder where these fears of multiple
voting were when this actually did happen during the
opposition’s <a
href="https://twitter.com/marxistJorge/status/886755416495067136">consultation</a>,
an event that the New York Times considered as a
supreme democratic event with “<a
href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/16/world/americas/venezuelans-vote-on-measures-devised-to-weaken-maduro.html?mcubz=0">staggering</a>”
results.</p>
<p>But when it comes to double standards, the <a
href="http://www.investigaction.net/en/the-guardians-propaganda-on-venezuela-all-you-need-to-know/">Guardian</a> was
determined not to be outdone. Here is what appeared on
a <a
href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/aug/11/donald-trump-venezuela-crisis-military-intervention">recent
piece</a> about Trump’s “military option” threat:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“[Venezuela’s] economy has collapsed in recent
years as the country led first by the late Hugo
Chávez and then by his successor, Maduro, has
resorted to increasingly authoritarian measures to
consolidate power.</p>
<p>Trump’s remarks come in the shadow of a 2002 coup
attempt against Chávez that he blamed on the US.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>So Maduro’s resort to “authoritarian measures” is not
“according to his opponents”, or to fancy
“international observers” that always come in handy on
these occasions, it is supposed to be an absolute
fact. On the other hand, US involvement in the 2002
coup, which has been amply <a
href="https://www.handsoffvenezuela.org/chavez-code-golinger.htm">documented</a>,
is just Chávez’s opinion!</p>
<p>And in what is not a case of double standards but
rather one of <em>no standards</em>, we have to
mention <a
href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/aug/19/venezuela-crisis-deepens-maduro-strips-opposition-held-parliament-power">this
article</a> by the Guardian. What happened was the
following: the Constituent Assembly <a
href="http://www.telesurtv.net/news/Por-que-y-para-que-la-ANC-convoco-a-la-AN-en-Venezuela-20170817-0086.html">invited</a> the
leaders of the opposition-controlled National Assembly
to participate in a session to work out their legal
status (2) and how both bodies will co-exist. The
opposition leaders refused, and the Constituent
Assembly <a
href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/13322">assumed
power</a> to legislate on some matters, namely
national security. The Guardian, clearly preparing for
their future as a tabloid (3), titled their article “<a
href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/aug/19/venezuela-crisis-deepens-maduro-strips-opposition-held-parliament-power">President
Maduro strips Venezuela’s parliament of power</a>”,
along with a picture of Maduro swinging maracas. It
does not get more disingenuous than that.</p>
<p><strong>Shoot first, do not ask questions later</strong></p>
<p>A distinctive reporting technique involves sticking
to first impressions, however biased they may be. Let
us illustrate with an example: on April 11, Brayan
Principal, a teenage resident from a public housing
project in Lara state, was shot dead. Rather than
gather the facts, the media simply let an <a
href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-39585293">opposition
lawmaker</a> state that he thought armed
pro-government groups were responsible. And that was
that. The <a
href="http://albaciudad.org/2017/04/madre-bryan-principal-venian-a-quemarlo-todo/">testimony</a> of
the victim’s mother, as well as other residents from
the project, showed this was another example of an
opposition attack against the public housing mission,
one of chavismo’s flagship projects. But the media
were happy with the initial opinion and not interested
in reporting further.</p>
<p>However, no case is more symptomatic than that of <a
href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-politics-actor-idUSKBN19J2EZ">Oscar
Pérez</a>. A police officer, he hijacked a
helicopter and then proceeded to shoot at and throw
grenades at government buildings with people inside.
It was more of a stunt than an armed uprising, but
still the media were <a
href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/amid-venezuelas-chaos-protesters-ask-was-helicopter-attack-rebellion-or-ruse/2017/06/28/82d27e44-5c02-11e7-a9f6-7c3296387341_story.html?utm_term=.9f46f336542f">charmed</a> by
a character that would be instantly, and rightly,
called a terrorist had he done this anywhere else. And
if that was not enough, they started floating this
idiotic idea that he might be a “<a
href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jun/28/venezuela-helicopter-attack-oscar-perez-rumors">government
plant</a>”. <em>“This colourful B-movie actor
attacked public buildings with grenades. Could it be
that he is a government plant?”</em> No, no he is
not. He appeared in an <a
href="http://albaciudad.org/2017/07/reaparecio-el-terrorista-oscar-perez-en-marcha-de-la-mud-coincide-con-requesens-y-llama-a-hora-cero/">opposition
rally</a> a few days later, but none of the outlets
that pushed the “government plant” theory bothered to
report on it.</p>
<p>A more recent case involved Colombian channels RCN
and Caracol being taken off the air in Venezuela.
While these channels are well-known for giving a
platform to right-wing people like <a
href="http://www.noticiasrcn.com/nacional-pais/las-farc-son-socias-dictadura-venezuela-uribe">Álvaro
Uribe</a>, and for being part of large <a
href="http://radiomacondo.fm/2016/02/02/en-dos-meses-los-titulares-apocalipticos-de-rcn-sobre-bogota-desaparecieron-y-ahora-todo-es-felicidad/">corporate
empires</a>, the <a
href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-41041585">BBC</a> pinpointed
this closure to the channels’ close coverage of the
events surrounding Luisa Ortega. It appears they were
only guilty of doing journalism, just like the BBC
pretends to do. The fact that former Mexican president
and loyal US servant Vicente Fox had just appeared on
these channels telling Maduro to <a
href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/13328">“resign
or die”</a> was not worth mentioning.</p>
<p>One wonders if a channel where people came on the air
telling Emmanuel Macron, or the Queen of England, to
“resign or die” would stay on the air in France or the
UK. And where was all this concern about “censorship”
when Argentinian president Mauricio Macri ordered t<a
href="http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Macri-Govt-to-Take-teleSUR-off-Argentine-TV-Service-in-15-Days-20160608-0034.html">eleSUR</a> taken
off the air? (Needless to say, TeleSur never ran
anything remotely comparable to these threats). <br>
</p>
<p><strong>Silence is golden</strong></p>
<p>Another common technique of biased reporting involves
reporting only stories that fit into the mainstream
narrative and shying away from anything that might
cast doubt on it. For example, OAS chief Luis Almagro
always has the floor for his regime-change efforts
against Venezuela, which come coated in the language
of defending “democracy”. But if the media pointed out
his lack of interest in the parliamentary coup in
Brazil, or reported on his <a
href="http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/1.806221">praise</a> of
Israel’s democracy, then his standing as a
“pro-democracy” actor would be very questionable.
Similarly, ridiculous statements such as Almagro
claiming that Cuba has an “<a
href="https://panampost.com/orlando-avendano/2017/07/20/cuba-has-occupying-army-in-venezuela/">occupying
army</a>” in Venezuela are nowhere to be found in
the mainstream outlets.</p>
<p>Luisa Ortega Díaz (4), former prosecutor turned
anti-chavista hero, also benefits from this kind of
selective reporting. Now portrayed as a defender of
the rule of law, it would be useful to recall that not
so long ago she was <a
href="https://twitter.com/dam1an/status/900286595919687684">vilified</a> by
the opposition for the prosecution and conviction of
Leopoldo López for his role in the previous edition of
the violent guarimbas in 2014. Ortega’s outlandish
comparisons of the Venezuelan government to “<a
href="https://www.efe.com/efe/america/politica/luisa-ortega-diaz-denuncia-practicas-de-hitler-y-stalin-del-gobierno-venezolano/20000035-3351901">Stalin
and Hitler</a>”, were they to be reported, would
also make it harder for her to be taken seriously.</p>
<p>Presented by the media as a fierce defender of the
Constitution, the idea is to imply that she is a
genuine Chavista and Maduro and co. have gone off the
rails. But her presence in a <a
href="http://www.analitica.com/actualidad/actualidad-nacional/capriles-llama-a-formar-un-frente-comun-en-defensa-de-la-constitucion/">forum</a> “in
defence of the Constitution” tells a different story.
There she was surrounded by who’s who of the
opposition leadership, people who would do away with
the Constitution in a heartbeat, and actually did
during the 2002 coup.</p>
<p>Ortega and her husband have been accused of running
an <a href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/13323">extortion</a>operation
out of the Public Prosecutor’s office, getting money
in exchange for not prosecuting companies accused of
misuse of subsidised dollars. Ortega’s replacement,
Tarek Saab, presented documents of alleged bank
accounts opened by members of this circle in UBS bank
in the Bahamas. But this evidence, or Ortega’s
baffling response that UBS <a
href="http://globovision.com/article/ortega-diaz-me-destituyeron-por-denunciar-la-corrupcion-en-venezuela">does
not exist</a> in the Bahamas (!), are not mentioned
by western journalists, who could actually <em>investigate</em> the
claims if they wanted to.</p>
<p><strong>Sanctions and solidarity</strong></p>
<p>The most recent US-imposed sanctions were a
significant escalation that could do serious damage to
the average Venezuelan, as opposed to freezing
Maduro’s non-existent US assets. With the strategy of
street violence clearly exhausted, having been unable
to spread unrest to the barrios or to cause a split in
the armed forces, there is now a switch towards
economic asphyxiation of the country. The US is even
resorting to <a
href="http://www.telesurtv.net/news/Denuncian-que-EE.UU.-bloquea-llegada-de-alimentos-a-Venezuela-20170712-0039.html">blocking</a> food
shipments destined to Venezuela, so it is clear that
the plan is to be rid of the Bolivarian Revolution by
imposing as much pain as possible on the Venezuelan
people.</p>
<p>For all the media propaganda, Chavismo has actually
struck a very conciliatory tone in recent years, both
in domestic and <a
href="http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Venezuelas-Maduro-Opens-Door-to-Possible-Talks-with-Trump-20170622-0006.html">international</a> terms.
But it should be clear that no dialogue is possible
with those who incessantly dig our graves, be they
opposition leaders who <a
href="http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Venezuela-Slams-Oppositions-Statement-Supporting-Sanctions-20170828-0007.html">call
for sanctions</a> and even military <a
href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/13316">intervention</a>,
or US officials who would never accept a threat like
this in their backyard. Nevertheless, Chavismo has
political room to manoeuvre with the Constituent
Assembly in place, and now might be a good time
suspend debt payments and prioritise elsewhere.
Ultimately, if the Bolivarian Revolution is to defend
itself against imperial aggression, the only way is to
increase the power and influence of its greatest
resource: a conscientious and mobilised working class.</p>
<p>As for the mainstream media, we should not have
illusions about holding the mainstream media to any
kind of journalism standards. Anyone on the left
should be able to analyse the corporate nature and
track record of the major media outlets and figure out
which interests they ultimately serve. Rather than
lazily echo media propaganda and preach a “<a
href="https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/13245">plague
on both your houses</a>” analysis, those who stand
in solidarity with the Venezuelan poor and working
class have the task of finding and spreading truthful
information as a first step in opposing imperialism in
Venezuela and Latin America.</p>
<p><strong>Notes</strong></p>
<p>(1) Television game-show in which contestants have to
guess prices of merchandise, and the audience shouts
suggestions.</p>
<p>(2) The National Assembly has been in <a
class="western"
href="http://www.investigaction.net/en/the-need-to-radicalise-the-bolivarian-revolution-interview-with-jorge-martin-part-2/">contempt
of court</a> ever since three lawmakers from
Amazonas state were sworn-in despite being under
investigation for electoral fraud.</p>
<p>(3) The Guardian recently announced it will come in <a
href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/jun/13/guardian-and-observer-to-relaunch-in-tabloid-format">tabloid
format</a>(smaller pages) starting in 2018 to save
money. UK tabloids are known for their sensationalism
and poor standards.</p>
<p>(4) Luisa Ortega has been touring the Americas
announcing that she has evidence of corruption
involving chavista leaders and Odebrecht. But in line
with what we discussed, claims against chavismo never
need to be substantiated. Quite frankly, if there was
any evidence of something as egregious as Maduro
receiving a multi-million dollar bribe from Odebrecht,
it would have been out there already, especially when
the opposition was closer to taking power by force.
The media headlines would have written themselves.</p>
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