Venezuelan protests between the Chavista government and the opposition have killed more than thirty people. The Venezuelan government has imprisoned generals suspecting a coup and more opposition leaders may face prosecution. But here in the U.S., Senator Marco Rubio, Jose Antonio Vargas and Latino journalists are calling out the lack of coverage of Venezuela. Some even compare it to the crisis in Ukraine.
Latino USA did some research with help from the NPR library. Our brief media survey on databases like Nexis and Factiva showed a lot more coverage for Ukraine before the Ukrainian crisis became international with the annexation of Crimea by Russia. We also found that as the protests in Venezuela escalated, the amount of coverage has remained the same. Our survey is not comprehensive and didn’t take type of coverage into account as a measurement.
We ask media experts and other journalists what they believe is behind the difference in coverage. We also ask news organizations about how they decide on what international news to cover. Also, we look at the ways the digital age may be changing the way we think of international news.
Sources: Factiva and Nexis, keywords: “Venezuela” and “Ukraine”, with “protests,” “crisis,” and/or “presidents.”
Photo by Elyxandro Cegarra/AFP/Getty Images
Certainly, the great majority of US news media enterprises stoped being a “news source” and instead are simply outlets for controlled, often biased,, sensationalism that is driven by revenue generation.
As a result the”FOURTH POWER” has contributed to the erosion and loss of trust.
In my opinion ethics has become dramatically scarce in businesses, institutions, politicians and the media. How sad that this would be an early outcome of the age of communications!