24/02/2010

British researchers expose BBC bias against Venezuela

Researchers at the University of the West of England, UK, have exposed ongoing and systematic bias in the BBC’s news reporting on Venezuela. Dr Lee Salter and Dr Dave Weltman analysed ten years of BBC reports on Venezuela since the first election of Hugo Chavez to the presidency in an ongoing research project, and their findings so far show that the BBC’s reporting falls short of its legal commitment to impartiality, truth and accuracy.

The researchers looked at 304 BBC reports published between 1998 and 2008 and found that only 3 of those articles mentioned any of the positive policies introduced by the Chavez administration. The BBC has failed to report adequately on any of the democratic initiatives, human rights legislation, food programmes, healthcare initiatives, or poverty reduction programmes. Mission Robinson, the greatest literacy programme in human history received only a passing mention.

“They tend to negate achievements”, said Salter on BBC coverage on Venezuela and added: “In our research we consider the history, orientation and constitution of the BBC and hypothesise that one of the key constraints on its reporting can be accounted for by its organizational culture – it is essentially a liberal-nationalistic organisation”.

This research is still ongoing.

Press Unit of the Venezuelan Embassy in London – Excerpts taken from two pieces of Venezuelanalysis: “A Decade of Propaganda? The BBC’s Reporting of Venezuela” and “Venezuela and the BBC”.

24 February 2010