Media
Washington Post Shamelessly Promotes U.S. Drug Policy in Colombia
An article by Juan Forero published last week in the Washington Post reflects the approach commonly used by most mainstream media correspondents covering the war on drugs and the armed conflict in Colombia. This modus operandi involves a journalist briefly visiting a rural region—often on a press junket organized by the Colombian government or US embassy—and being spoon-fed a story by the authorities. Inevitably, the official perspective dominates the resulting article, which ends up being little more than a public relations piece promoting the policies of the US and Colombian governments. Forero’s article about a recent shift in strategy in the US war on drugs in Colombia clearly fits this pattern. As a result, his findings contrast dramatically to those revealed in my recent investigation of the same counternarcotics project in eastern Colombia. Read more»
Wall Street Journal a “Front” for State Terrorism in Colombia
The title of this article might startle many readers, but it is no more shocking than the contents of a recent Wall Street Journal column written by Mary Anastasia O’Grady that brazenly supports Colombian President Alvaro Uribe’s accusations that human rights organizations in Colombia are “fronts” for terrorists. O’Grady goes so far as to claim that the tactics used by the Colombian military in its recent rescue of 15 hostages prove President Uribe’s accusations. Clearly, the title of this article spoofs O’Grady’s absurd claims by suggesting that her public endorsement of Uribe’s accusations make the Wall Street Journal a front for state terrorism, particularly in light of the fact that the Colombian military is responsible for the majority of the country’s human rights violations. In all seriousness though, O’Grady’s claims are not only irresponsible because they endanger the lives of human rights workers in Colombia, they also illustrate just how ignorant the author is of how the FARC operates in that country’s rural conflict zones. Read more»
Colombia Hostage Rescue Endangers Lives of Journalists and Aid Workers
Amidst all the joy and celebration resulting from the Colombian military’s successful rescue of 15 hostages last week, the fact that the tactics utilized in the mission will likely endanger the lives of journalists and aid workers in the future has been completely ignored. By having soldiers pose as journalists and aid workers in order to gain access to the hostages, the Colombian government has increased the already high risks faced by legitimate reporters and NGO workers. In a country that is already one of the most dangerous places in the world in which to work as a journalist or a defender of human rights, the armed actors will now be even more suspicious of anyone claiming to work in those fields. Read more»
Washington Post is Way Out of Line on Colombia’s “Supposed” Human Rights Crisis
According to a May 6 editorial by the Washington Post, Colombia does not have a serious human rights problem. In the editorial, titled “Assault on an Ally,” the Post ridiculed the recent claim by Human Rights Watch that “today Colombia presents the worst human rights and humanitarian crisis in the Western Hemisphere,” suggesting instead that Venezuela, Cuba and Haiti deserve that label. The editorial later ludicrously and irresponsibly referred to the human rights situation in Colombia as a “supposed human rights ‘crisis’,” insinuating that it is merely a fabrication of House Democrats and the left. But how can the killing of more labor leaders in Colombia than in the rest of the world not constitute a human rights crisis? How can the massacre of five Awá indigenous leaders last year not constitute a human rights crisis? And how can having the second largest internally displaced population in the world, behind only the Sudan, not constitute a human rights crisis? Read more»
Censorship, Hegemony and the Media in Colombia
Shedding light on issues of government corruption, state officials indirectly involved in the violation of its own citizens’ rights, or sectors of the nation’s elite hiring killers to eliminate their adversaries would, in many countries, be on the front pages of any press or be a headline story on any television news channel; however, this is not necessarily the case within the country of Colombia. Rather than seeing these issues presented in the media or awards given to those involved in such investigative journalism, Colombian journalists experience dismissal, incarceration or even death when exposing information that places the Colombian state or the elite in a critical light. Read more»
Mainstream Media an Instrument of U.S. Foreign Policy
A sequence of events transpired over the past few days that perfectly illustrate the mainstream media’s role as propagandists for the U.S. and Colombian governments. These events consisted of the media’s coverage of the massacre of six family members in Colombia and the release of a United Nations human rights report. The problem is rooted in the media’s over-reliance on official sources, despite being fully aware of a long history of lying and manipulation by those sources. The corporate media’s insistence on continuing this practice makes evident its willingness to operate as an instrument of U.S. foreign policy by providing disinformation and outright lies to the U.S. public. Read more»
The Media’s Drug War Propaganda
Last week, mainstream media correspondents based in Colombia again served as propagandists for Washington’s so-called war on drugs in the South American country. Following last month’s killing of 29 soldiers by rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), President Alvaro Uribe was determined to make a statement to Colombians and the world that his government was winning both the civil conflict and the war on drugs. However, in order to get his message out effectively, Uribe needed the international media’s cooperation. No problem. All he had to do was plan a counternarcotics offensive and have the military arrange a press junket to transport foreign correspondents from Bogotá to the operation zone. Inevitably, the spoon-fed reporters would quote the military officers in charge of the operation and comprehensively cover one side of the story. Read more»