Human Rights Watch Should Stick to the Facts on Venezuela

[Judi Lynn]

Human Rights Watch Should Stick to the Facts on Venezuela

by Mark Weisbrot

Despite the fact that the New York Times had to run a correction on February 26 for claiming that Globovisión in Venezuela was “the only television station that regularly broadcast voices critical of the government,” Daniel Wilkinson of Human Rights Watch (HRW) repeats the same error in the New York Review of Books yesterday, writing that:

Two of the four private stations voluntarily dropped their critical coverage; a third was forced off the air; and the fourth was hounded by administrative sanctions and criminal charges until the owner sold it last year to investors reportedly linked to the governments, who have dramatically curtailed its critical content.

In fact, the stations he claims have “dropped their critical coverage,” Venevisión and Televen, regularly run coverage that is critical of the government, as documented here.

Since the claim that these stations have “dropped their critical coverage” is demonstrably false, the NYRB, like the New York Times, should run a correction.

The fourth station he refers to is Globovisión. During the run-up to last April’s presidential elections, according to a Carter Center study, Globovisión gave nine times as much coverage to opposition presidential candidate Henrique Capriles as to governing party candidate Nicolás Maduro. Readers who are familiar with right-wing TV in the United States will note that this would not be possible for Fox News, for example, to get away with. So, if Globovisión “dramatically curtailed” its anti-government bias – Wilkinson offers no data -- because it was bought by someone who wanted to practice mainstream journalism, the station could still have a lot of room to trash the government.

More:
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2014/04/12-4

[Mika]

1. Shhhhhh! We're all supposed to genuflect at the mere mention of HRW here @ DU ...

... especially their Lat Am and Caribbean "reporting".

[Judi Lynn]

2. They really shine there, don't they? They want to please their masters, bless their hearts. n/t