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The BBC has been caught out pushing neutrality over Venezuela - until their chosen guests funding sources came out... Right, so the BBC has done it again it seems. You can always tell when Washington is gearing up for something ugly, because the BBC suddenly discovers a new “expert” who — surprise, surprise — sounds like they’re telling you exactly what the US State Department wants you to hear. And this time of course it’s Venezuela in the crosshairs, with the BBC quietly wheeling out an analyst whose organisation literally takes hundreds of thousands of dollars from the same US government now escalating military operations in the Caribbean. No disclosure, no context, just the usual polite fiction that this is impartial journalism instead of what seems like the warm-up act for whatever the White House decides to do next. And while American officials are out there reportedly ordering troops to “kill everybody” on a fishing boat, the BBC is busy smoothing the narrative so Britain won’t ask too many questions when the next phase arrives. Right, so you can tell when the British state is getting ready to look the other way for whatever Washington does next, because the BBC suddenly discovers a new “expert” who speaks with the full confidence of impartial analysis while carrying the assumptions of US foreign policy like it’s part of their bloodstream. And that’s exactly what’s happened with Venezuela, because this whole story didn’t begin with a government statement, or a debate in Parliament, or even an announcement from the White House. It began with a tweet. Not from an official, but from an investigative journalist who knows how media power works: Matt Kennard of Declassified UK. He was watching BBC World News when it interviewed Jeremy McDermott, co-director of InSight Crime, about the situation in the Caribbean. InSight Crime themselves had posted the clip proudly, showing McDermott explaining how US anti-drug operations have disrupted c*caine routes and how, in his framing, the Maduro government is sustained by state-embedded criminal structures.
By Damien WilleyThe BBC has been caught out pushing neutrality over Venezuela - until their chosen guests funding sources came out... Right, so the BBC has done it again it seems. You can always tell when Washington is gearing up for something ugly, because the BBC suddenly discovers a new “expert” who — surprise, surprise — sounds like they’re telling you exactly what the US State Department wants you to hear. And this time of course it’s Venezuela in the crosshairs, with the BBC quietly wheeling out an analyst whose organisation literally takes hundreds of thousands of dollars from the same US government now escalating military operations in the Caribbean. No disclosure, no context, just the usual polite fiction that this is impartial journalism instead of what seems like the warm-up act for whatever the White House decides to do next. And while American officials are out there reportedly ordering troops to “kill everybody” on a fishing boat, the BBC is busy smoothing the narrative so Britain won’t ask too many questions when the next phase arrives. Right, so you can tell when the British state is getting ready to look the other way for whatever Washington does next, because the BBC suddenly discovers a new “expert” who speaks with the full confidence of impartial analysis while carrying the assumptions of US foreign policy like it’s part of their bloodstream. And that’s exactly what’s happened with Venezuela, because this whole story didn’t begin with a government statement, or a debate in Parliament, or even an announcement from the White House. It began with a tweet. Not from an official, but from an investigative journalist who knows how media power works: Matt Kennard of Declassified UK. He was watching BBC World News when it interviewed Jeremy McDermott, co-director of InSight Crime, about the situation in the Caribbean. InSight Crime themselves had posted the clip proudly, showing McDermott explaining how US anti-drug operations have disrupted c*caine routes and how, in his framing, the Maduro government is sustained by state-embedded criminal structures.