Featured Articles - Media Watch

When the recent accusations of government-sponsored anti-Semitism are thoroughly investigated, it is revealed that in the majority of cases, the strongly anti-imperialist political sentiments of Venezuelan social movements are erroneously conflated with anti-Semitism.

Attacks on free speech across the region do not make the front pages of the British and American press. As usual, alleged concerns for democracy and human rights mask deeper priorities: protecting governments that toe the line dictated by Western power, and undermining those that do not.

With the recent departure of Financial Times correspondent Andrew Webb-Vidal from his post in Caracas, now is as good a time as ever to review Webb-Vidal’s partisan and sometimes erroneous coverage, in hopes that the Financial Times will turn over a new leaf in its future reporting of the country.

In studying the opinion pages of the top 25 circulation newspapers in the United States during the first six months of 2005, Extra! found that 95 percent of the nearly 100 press commentaries that examined Venezuelan politics expressed clear hostility to the country’s democratically elected president.

Controlling what we think is not solely about controlling what we know - it is also about controlling who we respect and who we find ridiculous. The deeper implication - all the more powerful because it is unstated, almost subliminal - is that figures like Hugo Chavez and Evo Morales do not merit balanced 'professional' media treatment - the rules do not apply to them because they are beyond the pale.

Some U.S. media outlets spread spurious charges of anti-Semitism against Venezuela's President Chavez. Surely anti-Semitism is a problem that deserves to be treated seriously, and not used as a pretense to bash official enemies.

Led by editorials by Mary Anastasia O'Grady, the WSJ has repeatedly published unbalanced and inaccurate information on the political and economic situation of Venezuela, and about President Chavez

The appearance of a baseless article like this, combined with recent statements by the head of the Southern Command, that Venezuela’s Margarita Island is a haven for Islamic terrorist groups, suggests that the Bush administration is setting the stage for declaring Venezuela a “rogue” state.