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<DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial>Great work Bob !</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial></FONT></STRONG> </DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial>David J.</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="FONT: 10pt arial; BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=naiman@justforeignpolicy.org
href="mailto:naiman@justforeignpolicy.org">Robert Naiman</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A
title=peace-discuss@lists.chambana.net
href="mailto:peace-discuss@lists.chambana.net">Peace-discuss List</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Thursday, February 27, 2014 11:13
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> [Peace-discuss] FAIR: NYT
Corrects Venezuela TV Falsehood</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr>
<DIV class=gmail_quote><BR>
<DIV dir=ltr><A
href="http://www.fair.org/blog/2014/02/27/nyt-corrects-venezuela-tv-falsehood/"
target=_blank>http://www.fair.org/blog/2014/02/27/nyt-corrects-venezuela-tv-falsehood/</A>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV
style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 10px; LINE-HEIGHT: 20px; TEXT-TRANSFORM: uppercase; BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(201,207,232); MARGIN: 0px 0px 25px; PADDING-LEFT: 10px; PADDING-RIGHT: 3px; FONT-FAMILY: Geneva,Verdana,san-serif; LETTER-SPACING: 7px; COLOR: rgb(85,85,85); FONT-SIZE: 17px; PADDING-TOP: 5px"><A
style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); TEXT-DECORATION: none" href="http://fair.org/blog/"
target=_blank>FAIR BLOG</A></DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND-IMAGE: url(http://www.fair.org/blog/wp-content/themes/lexicon/images/date-bg.png); PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; LINE-HEIGHT: 22px; BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(89,109,159); MARGIN: 2px 10px 10px 0px; MIN-HEIGHT: 87px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; WIDTH: 57px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; FONT-FAMILY: Ubuntu,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; FLOAT: left; COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); FONT-SIZE: 17px; PADDING-TOP: 0px">
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style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; PADDING-BOTTOM: 1px; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; FONT-SIZE: 18px; PADDING-TOP: 5px">Feb</DIV>
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<H1
style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; LINE-HEIGHT: 28px; BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(230,230,230); MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; FONT-FAMILY: 'PT Sans',san-serif; FONT-SIZE: 26px; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; PADDING-TOP: 0px">NYT
Corrects Venezuela TV Falsehood</H1>
<DIV
style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; LINE-HEIGHT: 24px; BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(230,230,230); MARGIN: 10px 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia,serif; COLOR: rgb(85,85,85); FONT-SIZE: 17px; PADDING-TOP: 0px">By <SPAN><SPAN><A
style="COLOR: rgb(89,109,159)" title="Peter Hart"
href="http://www.fair.org/blog/author/peter-hart/" rel=author
target=_blank>Peter Hart</A></SPAN></SPAN> <SPAN
style="BACKGROUND-IMAGE: url(http://www.fair.org/blog/wp-content/themes/lexicon/images/icon-comments.png); PADDING-BOTTOM: 2px; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 33px; PADDING-LEFT: 18px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; FONT-SIZE: 12px; PADDING-TOP: 0px"><A
style="COLOR: rgb(89,109,159)"
href="http://www.fair.org/blog/2014/02/27/nyt-corrects-venezuela-tv-falsehood/#respond"
target=_blank>Leave a Comment</A></SPAN></DIV>
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<P
style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 15px; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px"><A
style="COLOR: rgb(89,109,159)" title="Opposition politician on Venezuelan TV"
href="http://www.fair.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Venevision.png"
rel=lightbox[28072] target=_blank><IMG
style="BORDER-BOTTOM: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; BORDER-LEFT: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN: 0px 0px 20px 10px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; DISPLAY: inline; FLOAT: right; BORDER-TOP: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; BORDER-RIGHT: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; PADDING-TOP: 0px"
title="Opposition politician on Venezuelan TV" alt=Venevision
src="http://www.fair.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Venevision-300x202.png"
width=300 height=202></A>On <A style="COLOR: rgb(89,109,159)"
title="NYT: Protests Swell in Venezuela as Places to Rally Disappear"
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/21/world/americas/protests-swell-in-venezuela-as-places-to-rally-disappear.html"
target=_blank>February 21</A>, a report in the <STRONG>New York
Times</STRONG> by <A style="COLOR: rgb(89,109,159)"
title="FAIR Blog: NYT Debates Hugo Chavez--Minus the Debate"
href="http://www.fair.org/blog/2013/03/08/nyt-debates-hugo-chavez-minus-the-debate/"
target=_blank>William Neuman</A>about a supposed clampdown on dissent in
Venezuela started out with this bold claim: </P>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="BACKGROUND-IMAGE: url(http://fair.org/blog/wp-content/themes/lexicon/images/blockquote.png); PADDING-BOTTOM: 20px; BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 38px; PADDING-RIGHT: 28px; FONT-SIZE: 15px; PADDING-TOP: 0px">
<P
style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 15px; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px">The
only television station that regularly broadcast voices critical of the
government was sold last year and the new owners have softened its news
coverage.</P></BLOCKQUOTE>
<P
style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 15px; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px">This
struck some observers, like Mark Weisbrot of the Center for Economic &
Policy Research (<A style="COLOR: rgb(89,109,159)"
href="http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/the-americas-blog/does-venezuelan-television-provide-coverage-that-opposes-the-government"
target=_blank>2/24/14</A>), as totally overblown, since opposition figures do
in fact appear routinely on Venezuelan television. As he pointed out, the
Carter Center studied media coverage during the country's presidential
election last year, and found that opposition candidate Henrique Capriles
received much more coverage than President Nicolás Maduro, whose campaign
enjoyed an overwhelming advantage in state-owned media.</P>
<P
style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 15px; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px"><A
style="COLOR: rgb(89,109,159)"
title="Speaking about anti-government protests on Venezuelan TV"
href="http://www.fair.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/globovision.png"
rel=lightbox[28072] target=_blank><IMG
style="BORDER-BOTTOM: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; BORDER-LEFT: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN: 5px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; DISPLAY: inline; FLOAT: left; BORDER-TOP: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; BORDER-RIGHT: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; PADDING-TOP: 0px"
title="Speaking about anti-government protests on Venezuelan TV"
alt=globovision
src="http://www.fair.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/globovision-300x166.png"
width=300 height=166></A>As for protest coverage, Weisbrot shows that
opposition leaders appeared on television as the protests were underway, in
particular on<STRONG>Venevision</STRONG>, a widely watched outlet. </P>
<P
style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 15px; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px">So
it's not clear why the <STRONG>Times</STRONG> would suggest that
there was only one channel that featured opposition voices, and that it seemed
less likely to do so now.</P>
<P
style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 15px; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px"> Writer
and activist Robert Naiman wondered too, so he wrote to
the <STRONG>Times</STRONG>(2/25/14) to ask whether they would print a
correction. </P>
<P
style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 15px; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px">They
would not. Louis Lucero II, the paper's assistant to the senior editor
for standards, who wrote this:</P>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="BACKGROUND-IMAGE: url(http://fair.org/blog/wp-content/themes/lexicon/images/blockquote.png); PADDING-BOTTOM: 20px; BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 38px; PADDING-RIGHT: 28px; FONT-SIZE: 15px; PADDING-TOP: 0px">
<P
style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 15px; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px">We
remain confident in the factual accuracy of the central assertion of our
sentence (that the only television station that regularly broadcast voices
critical of the government was sold last year), but you seems to take issue
with the less clearly disprovable claim that the new owners have adopted a
less critical tack when covering the government. Accordingly, I'm afraid a
contrary assessment from the CEPR doesn't quite rise to the level of
the empirical counter-evidence we require to correct a claim made in our
articles.</P></BLOCKQUOTE>
<P
style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 15px; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px">This
is an odd response, seeming to misunderstand the complaint. The paper
was suggesting that there was only one TV station regularly featuring
anti-government views in Venezuela last year, and that it would be less likely
to do so now. That is, at best, totally misleading. </P>
<P
style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 15px; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px">Naiman's
group started a <A style="COLOR: rgb(89,109,159)"
href="http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/nyt-fix-your-false-reporting"
target=_blank>petition</A> to get the <STRONG>Times</STRONG> to
correct the story. Lo and behold,
the <STRONG>Times</STRONG> corrected the story: </P>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="BACKGROUND-IMAGE: url(http://fair.org/blog/wp-content/themes/lexicon/images/blockquote.png); PADDING-BOTTOM: 20px; BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 38px; PADDING-RIGHT: 28px; FONT-SIZE: 15px; PADDING-TOP: 0px">
<P
style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 15px; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px"><B><I>Correction:
February 26, 2014 </I></B><I></I></P>
<P
style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 15px; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px"><I>An
earlier version of this article referred imprecisely
to <STRONG>Globovision</STRONG>. Before its sale last year, it
broadcast more voices critical of the Venezuelan government than any other
TV station, but it was not the only one to regularly feature government
critics.</I></P></BLOCKQUOTE>
<P
style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 15px; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px">As
is often the case, the correction obscures the central problem with the piece:
that it reported erroneously that Venezuelan TV is a place where voices
critical of the government do not appear. </P>
<P
style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 15px; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px">Interestingly,
Neuman wrote another piece (<A style="COLOR: rgb(89,109,159)"
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/25/world/americas/in-venezuela-middle-class-joins-protests.html?ref=todayspaper"
target=_blank>2/25/14</A>) about protests in San Cristobal, an opposition
stronghold in the western part of the country. It included this
observation: </P>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="BACKGROUND-IMAGE: url(http://fair.org/blog/wp-content/themes/lexicon/images/blockquote.png); PADDING-BOTTOM: 20px; BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 38px; PADDING-RIGHT: 28px; FONT-SIZE: 15px; PADDING-TOP: 0px">
<P
style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 15px; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px">Nearby,
a neighbor, Teresa Contreras, 53, flipped through the channels on her
television, showing that there was no coverage of the violence, a sign, she
said, of the government control over the news media.</P></BLOCKQUOTE>
<P
style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 15px; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px">Is
the idea that any protest anywhere that isn't being covered in real time by
television is evidence of state control of the media? That would be an
interesting standard to apply to the US press. </P>
<P
style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 15px; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px">Meanwhile,
the <STRONG>Times</STRONG> ran an op-ed by Francisco Toro (<A
style="COLOR: rgb(89,109,159)" title="NYT: Rash Repression in Venezuela"
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/25/opinion/rash-repression-in-venezuela.html"
target=_blank>2/24/14</A>), a Venezuelan expatriate whose <A
style="COLOR: rgb(89,109,159)"
title="FAIR Blog: News From Venezuela--but Where Is It Coming From?"
href="http://www.fair.org/blog/2014/02/22/news-from-venezuela-but-where-is-it-coming-from/"
target=_blank>blog post</A> accusing international media of ignoring a
"tropical pogrom" against demonstrators in Venezuela was hugely popular on
social media–despite the fact that he later described it as an "overstatement
in the heat of the moment" (<STRONG>Twitter</STRONG>, <A
style="COLOR: rgb(89,109,159)" title="Twitter: BoringDev"
href="https://twitter.com/BoringDev/status/437974589931397120"
target=_blank>2/24/14</A>).</P>
<DIV
style="BORDER-BOTTOM: rgb(221,221,221) 0px solid; TEXT-ALIGN: center; BORDER-LEFT: rgb(221,221,221) 0px solid; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(255,255,255); MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 10px; PADDING-LEFT: 10px; WIDTH: 310px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; FLOAT: right; BORDER-TOP: rgb(221,221,221) 0px solid; BORDER-RIGHT: rgb(221,221,221) 0px solid; PADDING-TOP: 10px"><A
style="COLOR: rgb(89,109,159)" title="NYT Corrects Venezuela TV Falsehood"
href="http://www.fair.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Venevisi%C3%B3n.jpg"
rel=lightbox[28072] target=_blank><IMG
style="BORDER-BOTTOM: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; BORDER-LEFT: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; PADDING-BOTTOM: 5px; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; BORDER-RIGHT: rgb(0,0,0) 1px solid; PADDING-TOP: 0px"
title="" alt="Screenshot from Venevision."
src="http://www.fair.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Venevisi%C3%B3n-300x225.jpg"
width=300 height=225></A>
<P
style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 15px; LINE-HEIGHT: 13px; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; FONT-SIZE: 12px; PADDING-TOP: 0px">Venevisión
covers the speech that wasn't covered.</P></DIV>
<P
style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 15px; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px">Toro's
op-ed declared that "to the Venezuelan government, all dissent is
treason"–citing as an example a speech by opposition leader Henrique Capriles:
"Few outside the rally heard him, however, because government pressure ensured
that no broadcast media carried coverage of the event."</P>
<P
style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 15px; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px">According
to NACLA (<STRONG>Manufacturing Contempt</STRONG>,<A
style="COLOR: rgb(89,109,159)"
title="Manufacturing Contempt: Letter to New York Times: Correct Francisco Toro's Error on Venezuela"
href="http://nacla.org/blog/2014/2/26/letter-new-york-times-correct-francisco-toros-error-venezuela"
target=_blank>2/26/14</A>), though, Capriles' speech was covered by
both<STRONG><A style="COLOR: rgb(89,109,159)"
href="http://globovision.com/articulo/capriles-los-venezolanos-que-piensan-distinto-no-son-fascistas"
target=_blank>Globovisión</A></STRONG> and <STRONG><A
style="COLOR: rgb(89,109,159)" title=""
href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXiCZVVy5K8"
target=_blank>Venevisión</A></STRONG>.</P>
<P
style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 15px; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px">Asked
about the discrepancy, Toro (<STRONG>Twitter</STRONG>, <A
style="COLOR: rgb(89,109,159)" title="Twitter: BoringDev"
href="https://twitter.com/BoringDev/status/438777420800598016"
target=_blank>2/26/14</A>) responded: "There was no live coverage." Can you
imagine living in a state so repressive that speeches by government
opponents aren't covered live?</P><SPAN class=HOEnZb><FONT
color=#888888></FONT></SPAN></DIV><SPAN class=HOEnZb><FONT color=#888888>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr>
<DIV><BR></DIV></DIV></FONT></SPAN></DIV></DIV></DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>-- <BR>
<DIV dir=ltr>Robert Naiman<BR>Policy Director<BR>Just Foreign Policy<BR><A
href="http://www.justforeignpolicy.org"
target=_blank>www.justforeignpolicy.org</A><BR><A
href="mailto:naiman@justforeignpolicy.org"
target=_blank>naiman@justforeignpolicy.org</A><BR>
<DIV><SPAN style="TEXT-ALIGN: left">(202) 448-2898, extension
1.</SPAN><BR></DIV></DIV></DIV>
<P>
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