Bad news from Venezuela

• Main Author: MacLeod, Alan
• Published: University of Glasgow 2017
• Subjects: 302.23; HM Sociology
• Online Access: https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.726688

This is a mixed methods research thesis on how the Western press covers Venezuela. It found a pronounced to overwhelming tendency for all newspapers to present the country, its economics and politics in an extremely negative light, presenting minority opinions on highly-contested and controversial issues as undisputed facts while rarely acknowledging opposing opinions existed and displaying an overwhelming aversion to the Venezuelan government and its project in the majority of articles, especially editorials. Drawing on Herman and Chomsky (1988) and Gramsci’s (1971) theories, it found the coverage shaped by the cultural milieu of journalists. News about Venezuela is written from New York or London by non-specialists or by those staying inside wealthy guarded citadel enclaves inside an intensely segregated Caracas. Journalists speak mainly to English-speaking elites and have little contact with the poor majority. Therefore, they reproduce ideas that are largely attuned to a Western, neoliberal understanding of Venezuela. Facing intense financial pressure, newspapers have outsourced their coverage to local journalists affiliated with the virulently partisan opposition, leading to a highly adversarial newsroom culture that sees itself as the “resistance” against chavismo. Journalists sympathetic to chavismo practice self-censorship and experts sharing differing opinions about Venezuela are commonly blacklisted from mainstream media.