June 27th was Day of the Journalist in Venezuela and instead of being simply an occasion to celebrate, it was a day to protest the continuous erosion of free press in the nation. Journalists and press workers took the streets on Friday to demand respect for free speech and to demand an end to the…
Sometimes, buying newspapers in mysterious ways or depriving them of their most basic resource to keep running isn’t enough. Sometimes, the hegemony needs a classic newspaper closure. That’s what La Guaira newspaper La Verdad de Vargas went through last Friday, when several local and national government agencies decided to make a visit to its newsroom. Allegedly, the…
Look, I get it: Picking out any one bit of insanity appearing on Venezuelan State Propaganda and singling it out for special opprobium is kind of an artificial exercise. Yet I can’t help but feel that even by the deranged, psychopath-on-ketamine editorial standards of SiBCI, the campaign of character assassination unleashed against former Spanish Prime Minister Felipe González these last few…
Back in April, State broadcaster VTV and weekly political gossip rag Quinto Dia quoted White House spokeman Jim Luers saying that reports that the U.S. is investigating Diosdado Cabello are “totally false”. Days later, El Nacional called the White House to confirm if any Jim Luers worked there. The answer? Nope. This week, El Nacional kept up its search for this Jim…
Barquisimeto’s main newspaper El Impulso has announced that starting May 12th the paper will reduce its daily edition to only 8 pages. In an editorial, the paper explains the reason behind this drastic decision, putting the blame on one culprit: The Alfredo Maneiro Editorial Complex (CEAM), the State-owned provider of newsprint in the nation. The creation…
For all the coverage that Caracas Chronicles has given to the State’s communicational hegemony all these years, two things are certain: First, it has grown so large that it has devoured our media landscape and changed our public sphere in a drastic and overwhelmingly negative way. And second, its overall content is dedicated exclusively to…
Tuesday’s edition of Delta Amacuro State newspaper NotiDiario carries a simple headline: “Once again, we have to say goodbye.” The paper will no longer publish for the forseeable future (but it will continue online). Here’s part of their statement, in which they explained in detail the economic reasons behind the decision: “Inflation wrapped us, from…
