NED and the media in Venezuela

Hugo Chávez has reported that the US National Endowment for Democracy (NED) has been funneling money to the Opposition, a charge that Washington denies, of course. Various accounts have been offered as proof.

And if I haven't mentioned it before, the role of the media in Venezuela's politics can't be understated. They are overwhelmingly anti-Chávez and were instrumental in carrying out the coup on the democratically elected government in 2002.

Here's an interesting article from a Dutch journalist living in Panama tying the two together:

During the recent election campaign in Panama, local journalists, politicians and observers were surprised to read in virtually every foreign publication how the expansion of the Canal was the number one issue debated these days in Panama. In reality there wasn't a mentionable debate anywhere in Panama about the Canal, and certainly not in the context of the elections.

In an excellent opinion article in the New Zealand publication "Scoop", author Toni Solo notices how the foreign media are now parroting each other about civil war being a real threat [in Venezuela] should there have been no referendum. Writes Solo:

...It is as though all mainstream media reporting on Venezuela have been briefed to spread anxiety about a civil war. Thus, such fears become the very prophecy the White House war-crime machine is already primed to make come true.

The NED pops up in various places where the United States claim to bring "democracy", by first bankrolling the opposition after which the leaders are put in strategic positions in new "democratic" governments. Lately, we've seen this in the Middle East. Ayad Allawi, Iraq's new occupation forces-appointed prime minister, was for example the candidate enjoying the support of the NED and the State Department, while the Pentagon was supporting the now disgraced Ahmad Chalabi.

...On May 28th, IJNet published that

"Journalists from new and emerging democratic countries are eligible to apply for the Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellows Program to work and study in the United States for up to 10 months.

The program, organized by the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), aims to help fellows promote democracy in their home countries. Democracy activists, human rights advocates and scholars are also eligible for the program."

And so, the US government will be "training" the next generation of journalists to be on call whenever State Department officials feel the need to "talk to editorial writers hoping to send a clear message" to whomever is the democratic enemy du jour by then.

  Okke Ornstein post

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