• Venezuela, Violence, and the New York Times: Failing When it Comes to Selective Indignation

    Author(s):
    Charles Ripley (see profile)
    Date:
    2017
    Subject(s):
    Latin America, Mass media--Study and teaching, Political science, South America
    Item Type:
    Article
    Tag(s):
    media coverage, protests, Venezuela, violence, Media studies
    Permanent URL:
    http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/M6MF87
    Abstract:
    The Venezuelan protests that emerged in the beginning of 2014 attracted a wide range of academic and media attention to the quality of its reportage. The protests centered upon the nature of the opposition to the current President Nicolás Maduro (2013-present), the successor to former President Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías (1999- 2013). One of the most controversial issues pertaining to the political unrest was the tone of U.S. media coverage. Supporters of Chavismo claim that the U.S. mainstream media tends to focus on governmental abuses while ignoring the violence perpetrated by the opposition. Despite the widespread attention the crisis has generated, there has been little effort to systematically test the extent to which the violence is attributable to governmental forces and whether or not the U.S. media has accurately and dispassionately covered the events. Creating the first political violence dataset for the Venezuelan crisis, this research aims to measure the extent to which the U.S. media outlet, led by The New York Times, objectively covered the 2014 crisis. Results suggest that although the New York Times accurately reported governmental violence, it significantly underreported opposition violence. The study presented here not only hopes to broaden one’s view of the Venezuelan crisis, but aims to contribute to a wide range of academic and policy studies, including Latin American politics, political violence, and media studies.
    Metadata:
    xml
    Published as:
    Online publication     Show details
    Pub. URL:
    http://www.coha.org/venezuela-violence-and-the-new-york-times-failing-when-it-comes-to-selective-indignation/
    Publisher:
    Council on Hemispheric Affairs
    Pub. Date:
    September 19, 2017
    Website:
    http://www.coha.org/venezuela-violence-and-the-new-york-times-failing-when-it-comes-to-selective-indignation/
    Version:
    First
    Section:
    Venezuela
    Status:
    Published
    Last Updated:
    6 years ago
    License:
    All Rights Reserved

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