14/04/2010
British film maker writes Guardian article on UK press coverage of Venezuela

Pablo Navarrete, director of Inside the Revolution: A Journey into the Heart of Venezuela and editor of Alborada.net, has written an article calling for the mainstream media to listen to the voices of people from all sectors of Venezuelan society.  The film maker noted that UK mainstream media tends to focus on the views of the governments domestic and international opponents while ignoring the views of local activists in poorer communities.

Navarrete, who was the Venezuela researcher for John Pilger's documentary The War On Democracy, said that the vilification of Venezuela was widespread across the mainstream media and highlighted a recently published 10-year study by researchers at the University of West England on the BBC's coverage of Venezuela.  The researchers noted that out of a sample of 304 articles, only three mentioned any of the positive reforms implemented by the Chavez government.  It is noted that President Chavez was also compared Hitler in one instance.

Navarrete urged that media should avoid "simplistic interpretations that focus virtually all developments in Venezuela around the figure of Chávez" and give credit to the grassroots activists who are "true force behind Venezuela's process of radical change". Navarrete, who writes a popular blog on Latin America politics, media and culture, also called for solidarity with Venezuela and drew attention to the "military and propagandistic" threats the country faces.

Read here Pablo Naverrete’s piece in The Guardian:  http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/pablo-navarrete

Press Unit of the Venezuelan Embassy in London