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Thread: whatever one thinks of Maduro the way mainstream media are treating the ‘humanitarian aid’ circus in Venezuela is deeply disturbing and illuminating /1
Nearly all the mainstream journalists are absolutely gushing about the #VenezuelaAidLive concert and similarly gushing about the positive idea of humanitarian aid entering Venezuela /2
These same journalists are utterly disparaging about Venezuela’s government and pro-govt supporters, mercilessly mocking them etc. /3
There’s various problems with this. First it betrays a total lack of objectivity, which in and of itself isn’t a problem but IS a problem for journalists who constantly claim that journalists must be objective /4
It also leaves out the larger context of what is happening, such as the critiques by Red Cross, UN and others of the clearly politicized nature of the aid, and the fact that this aid is not actually designed to ease Venezuelans suffering but to bring about regime change /5
Mainstreams journalists are very willingly making themselves into cheerleaders for the US policy here, which has been criticized for many valid reasons /6
None of this of course implies any defense of Maduro’s govt. What’s stunning is how openly and gleefully one sided mainstream media is about this issue, and their smug moral sense that they are thus helping Venezuelans. /7
One would think journalists should be asking hard questions like: if the US really cares about Latin Americans or Venezuelans why has it imposed debilitating oil and other sanctions? /8
And if the US really cares about democracy why does it support Honduras, Brazil, Haiti, and Saudi Arabia with massive violations of democratic norms and human rights? /9
But take a look at the stories, tweets, etc being produced by the mainstream media this weekend. The lack of attention to these issues is apparent /10
And the lack of simple professionalism and a curiosity to really try to understand why things are happening is also stunning, as is the willingness to simply accept what powerful people in the US say /11
In case it’s unclear this thread refers to US-led ‘humanitarian assistance’ to Venezuela. (There is clearly a humanitarian crisis there and real aid is needed. But the US ‘show’ makes that task much more fraught and unlikely to occur.)
