Media Bias - The Case of Hugo Chavez

It wasn't until I started this blog a few months back, that I was forced to daily read the news and search for as many sources as possible. In doing so, looking at local Latin American newspapers, smaller papers in the States, and Independent press and bloggers, I came to realize just how biased the MSM is in the States.

Sure, I always new that CNN was the Commies News Network, NYT was Not Your Truth and that Fox was righter than right, but I naively assumed that the networks were a bit more balanced, a bit more fair. Ha! Was I ever wrong.

Since then I've been wanting to do an analysis of news events and coverage, but alas, pursuing a Ph.D. barely leaves me time to have a life and to keep this blog alive. But never fear, help is here!

The Media Research Center's Free Market Project decided it would be a good idea to analyze how the networks have been covering the news, in this particular case how they've been covering Hugo Chavez (or as I call him in this blog, Stooge Chavez). Their findings are outstanding:

FMP looked at all 139 stories on ABC, NBC and CBS news programs about Chavez since he took power in 1998, and results showed the media downplaying any danger from a leader even some in the media recognized was “anti-American.” ....

...reporters described Chavez with squishy terms – the same terms they applied to almost anyone on the left. Rather than giving an accurate portrayal of his politics, both NBC and CBS called Chavez “left-leaning,” a term “CBS Evening News” reporter Byron Pitts used for Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) in a 2004 campaign story..

To its credit, CBS acknowledged both recent times Chavez made his ominous vow to cut off oil to America....But the network gave the topic just a small mention on two separate newscasts in two months.

The media called Chavez “anti-American,” but he is much more. He is working to become his generation’s Fidel Castro. Even in admitting that, the media treat Castro more like a quaint relic of the Cold War than the murdering thug history would indicate.

Don't you just love it? But the last comment on the Townhall op-ed piece is the best:

Americans are supposed to count on the media to serve as a barometer of what is really going on in the world. With Hugo Chavez, the network news shows don’t see the coming storm.

Now isn't that the real truth. But then again, what can we expect when to this day totalitarian regimes like Cuba and China, who continuously violate Human Rights and freedom of Speech and Expression are forever ignored? We as bloggers can never give up the voice we have been given to challenge the media bias and get the truth out.

I urge all of you to visit the Free Market Project often and read the entire Townhall piece.

Tags: Cuba, Internet, Freedom, Fidel Castro, Human Rights, Journalism, Dissident, Hugo Chavez, Media Bias