BBC
Guilty Of Venality In Its Misreporting On Venezuela
By Stephen Lendman
13 October, 2006
Countercurrents.org
Listeners
and viewers expecting to find a safe alternative to the corporate-controlled
media by turning to the BBC better reconsider their choice based on
the vaunted news organization's reporting on Venezuela and specifically
on the misinformation it put out in an online piece on October 8 titled
- "Mass Venezuela opposition rally." It claims "Tens
of thousands of people have marched through the Venezuelan capital,
Caracas, in support of the main opposition candidate, Manuel Rosales."
If readers of this piece
just went to VHeadline.com, they'd have gotten a much different picture
- from the actual photo of those "tens of thousands" that,
in fact, may have been all of a single ten thousand or so in the streets
in a show of some kind of tepid support at best and not what anyone
would call "mass." Shame on BBC and its reporter in Caracas
Greg Morsbach for lying for the power interests he serves so he reports
what they want put out even if it's not true.
Based in Caracas for the
BBC, correspondent Morsbach must knows a massive crowd when he sees
one as Hugo Chavez draws them every time he addresses a rally that routinely
turns out en masse in a tsunami of red-shirted supporters to see, hear
and cheer him. He surely can tell the difference between a huge Chavez
crowd and the puny one for Mr. Rosales on October 8, many of whom were
likely just on the Caracas streets and curious to see what was going
on. BBC must think this kind of misreporting is the way to maintain
a gilt-edged reputation as a reliable news service. The sad truth is
that reputation got tarnished many years ago and went to pieces in the
shameless reporting the UK-based news organization did in the run-up
to the Iraq war when it's entire news operation went into overdrive
functioning as a state propaganda service.
But back to the Morsbach
report in which he claims the so-called mass rally "filled the
main avenues of the city centre (and) was the biggest opposition rally
Venezuela has seen since early 2004." It may have been about the
only one of any size seen, and it may have partially filled a single
avenue, but as the actual photo on VHeadline.com's site shows, it thinned
out quite fast after moving away from its small core "mass."
Correspondent Morsbach may be nearsighted and failed to notice. Surely
on BBC pay he can afford new glasses to help him see more clearly so
he can report more accurately in the future.
Morsback shamelessly continues:
"Young and old (how could he tell even in a smallish-sized crowd)
took to the streets to throw their weight behind the campaign of Mr.
Rosales.....Many claim they were seeking liberty and democracy (did
he wade into the "crowd" and interview large numbers them)
and that made Mr. Rosales their only option." Mr. Morsback needs
a reawakening to reality. All reliable opinion polls show Hugo Chavez's
popularity is overwhelming making him unbeatable in the upcoming December
presidential election short of another US-directed coup against him
which is very possible. Zulia Governor Rosales, on the other hand, is
a US picked oligarch stooge whose role in the election isn't to win
but to cause enough mischief in an attempt to discredit Chavez in hopes
of stirring up an uprising to unseat him. Correspondent Morsback doesn't
explain this because if he dares do it BBC will replace him with someone
else who'll suppress the truth and stick to the black propaganda party
line.
BBC does let Morsback report
something factual at the end of his article though it's hardly newsworthy:
"For some (maybe most) it was simply a day out to enjoy the sunshine...."
But he quickly reverted to the role he's paid to do as a propagandist
claiming: "If Mr. Rosales can keep up this kind of pressure against
his rival, the election results may not necessarily be a foregone conclusion."
Pressure? The only kind he cites in his piece is Rosales' weak-kneed
comments that Venezuela was "at (an unexplained) crossroads,"
and Mr. Chavez was "giving away Venezuela's oil wealth to foreign
powers (absurd and false as anyone understanding ALBA knows.)"
Morsback ends his piece on
a high note though as he may have had a pang of conscience (and BBC's
permission) at the end of his otherwise shameless piece of black journalism.
It forces him to admit that "Mr. Chavez still enjoys a clear lead
in opinion polls because of a sense of loyalty that poor and working
class voters feel toward him." But Morsback's conscience pangs
weren't strong enough to get him to try explaining why.
Stephen Lendman
lives in Chicago and can be reached at [email protected].
Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.
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