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The Price of Dumbing Down Venezuela
By Olivia Burlingame Goumbri
Znet
February 15, 2008

Continued

Even more disturbing, though, was the fact that the top ten largest circulating newspapers in the nation gave no attention to the story that followed.

In a provocative move unforeseen by opposition and government supporters alike, President Chávez rang in the New Year by pardoning more than 30 persons involved in the unsuccessful coup d'etat that briefly deposed him in 2002.

Chávez appeared live on state television to hold out an olive branch to the opposition, remarking that the time was ripe to begin "turning the page." The new law would further safeguard civilians' rights to engage in acts of civil disobedience and allow for the immediate release of accused and convicted criminals imprisoned during the attempted coup, so long as they had previously submitted to authorities. Those who fled or those who were being held for crimes against humanity would not be pardoned, he said.

Again, the largest circulating US newspapers remained astonishingly silent. Among them, only two - the Chicago Tribune and Washington Post - even mentioned the historic event, and they did so by merely publishing one reprint each from the newswires. The New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, and the Dallas Morning News all neglected the story and in the days following the amnesty decree, chose to run feature stories criticizing Chávez.

Madeline Albright wrote in the Los Angeles Times that the coming foreign policy battle would be one between democratic and autocratic tendencies, and used President Chávez as an example of the latter. The next day, the Times published an opinion piece on free trade that categorically rejected Venezuela's alternative model of trade and development. The Wall Street Journal followed suite with "Liberty Theology," which bashed the religious movement of liberation theology for its links to socialist leaders.

Others ran headlines on the "failure" of President Chávez's efforts to secure the release of Colombian hostages being held by FARC guerrillas. Headlines such as "Chávez's Promised Hostage Release Fizzles" (New York Times) and "Chavez Led Alliance Fails to Get Hostages" (Washington Post) made it apparent that only negative stories would surface. Despite these dismissals, in a most unexpected twist to the saga, the Colombian hostages were indeed liberated just days later, on January 10th.

Conclusion

In addition to forward thinking about political compromise and reconciliation, inspiring models of citizen participation are increasingly occurring in South America but are often lost on us because we have no alternative reference point to compare them to. In Venezuela alone, 18 million people have received new or updated ID cards, enabling them to register to vote - 5.5 million of them - for the first time in their lives. Even more astounding are the results of Venezuela's last presidential election which saw the highest voter turnout in Venezuelan history - with nearly 75% participation- rates that have not been matched in the U.S. since 1820.

As Americans await the results of national primaries, and gubernatorial and mayoral campaigns approach in Venezuela, an exciting series of newsworthy events are due to unfold. With the Venezuelan opposition energized from a win at the polls, and with President Chavez calling on his supporters to reflect and re-energize, heated battles for local public office are just around the corner. American presidential contenders will not be the only candidates calling for change this year. They will however, be the only ones wondering how to get the majority to the ballot box.

How newsmakers cover the developments of this Caribbean nation remains to be seen, but if past coverage is any indicator I am afraid we are headed down a dangerous road where "objective" reporting is sacrificed for the official line of Washington. In light of that unfortunate trend, a more balanced depiction of current affairs in Venezuela is in order and it would behoove all of us to advocate for it.

Olivia Burlingame Goumbri is the editor of The Venezuela Reader: The Building of a People's Democracy and has appeared on various national radio programs as a Venezuela expert including NPR's To The Point and BBC World News. She is currently the Executive Director of The Venezuela Information Office in Washington DC.

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