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Venezuela Blitz - Part 2: Press Freedom, Sanctions And Oil
Editor - 8 February 2019
Press Freedom - Taking A Glance At A Newspaper Stand
In support of their claim that Maduro is a 'tyrant' who does not allow free elections, corporate media consistently point to a lack of press freedom. When British academic Alan MacLeod of Glasgow Media Group reviewed 166 Western media articles evaluating the state of press freedom between 1998-2014, he found that all depicted Venezuelan media as 'caged', or unfree. Last week, Canadian political analyst Joe Emersberger commented in The Canary:
'The idea that Venezuela has a "caged" media has to be one of the most unforgivable pieces of Western propaganda about the country. And a simple analysis shows just how ignorant that allegation is. Indeed, just a few days ago, one of Venezuela's most widely read newspapers, El Universal, published an op-ed enthusiastically applauding the efforts of the US-backed opposition to bring about President Nicolás Maduro's ouster by recognizing opposition leader Juan Guaidó as the country's new president. The op-ed said Guaidó was managing his US-backed strategy "perfectly". And it joyously stated that the US and its allies had Maduro surrounded, and almost ready to be ousted.'...