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January 05, 2007

MSM Bias Exposed via Hugo Chavez Test

Last Friday, in a post titled "Maybe This will get the MSM to Stop Giving Chavez a Free Ride," I speculated that the love-fest between mainstream media and Hugo Chavez would come to an abrupt halt now that Chavez had attacked MSM by shutting down his country's second-largest  TV station as a result of that station's opposition to him.

I documented the pre-existing lovefest MSM had shown for Chavez via listing the most recent Google News headlines for him - which came out before the news that he was shutting down that station. As I said last week of those headlines:

Can you believe how favorable all these headlines are? "Create unified party" ... "popular origin" ... "backs Ecuador" ... "demands apology from US ambassador" (those rotten US ambassadors! how dare they assert drug traffic is up in Venezuela!) ... "person of the year poll" ... "Archbishop" ... even, "Let's now make friends with Venezuela!"

(Click here for a saved copy of last week's search.)

Yes, last week there was a headline, "Archbishop Hugo Chavez?" Now it's a week later. Has the tenor of the headlines changed? Let's look at today's most recent headlines, which came after the news that Chavez was shutting down that opposition TV station. 

• Twin Falls Times-NewsVenezuela`s Hugo Chavez chooses new VP
  • CARACAS, Venezuela, 01/05 - With the selection of a political newcomer as his new vice president, President Hugo Chavez moved forward with changes to his ...
• Chávez fires vice president, justice chief
  • CARACAS, Venezuela - President Hugo Chávez abruptly fired his vice president and his interior minister Wednesday night, issuing a rare public acknowledgment ...
  • Chávez plans one grand socialist party, led by him
    
  • Silencing media critics in Venezuela
    
  • President of Venezuela Fires Deputy and Interior Minister
    
• Hugo Chavez’s policies fuel Venezuela’s double-digit inflation
  • Some of the shortages are the result of the very price controls that President Hugo Chavez has imposed to combat inflation, say local businessmen. ...
  • Venezuelan businesses say Chávez's price controls create shortages
    
  • Venezuela Annual Inflation Rises in 2006
    
  • Venezuela annual inflation rises in 2006
    
• Tonight's Dinner Special: Hugo Chavez?
  • ... restaurant in Chicago's Wicker Park neighborhood, has run several recent advertisements featuring quotations from Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. ...
  • Eatery's ad turning stomachs
• Chavez Travels to Nicaragua after Swear in
  • Caracas, Jan 4 (Prensa Latina) Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez will swear in for his 2007-2013 mandate on January 10, according to December election ...
  • Venezuela plans to offer housing credits
    
  • Venezuela Plans to Offer Housing Credits
    
  • Chávez, Ortega to initial social and economic agreements
    
• President Chávez is the recipient of honorary degree
  • Following his inauguration as the new Nicaraguan President, Daniel Ortega will enter into a cooperation agreement with Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez. ...
• The Spirit of Tom Paine
  • Case in point, and any of several stand out prominently - Iran, Syria, North Korea and Venezuela under Hugo Chavez who on December 3 won a landslide ...
• Chávez will be sworn in next January 10
  • Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez will be sworn in next January 10 for his next term in office from 2007-2013, the National Assembly said on Wednesday. ...
• The shared political stylings of George W. Bush and Hugo Chavez ...
  • Democrats need to realize that the Iraq war is likely never going to end without them doing something to end it. ...
• Chávez to attend Ortega's inauguration
  • Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez next January 10th is departing for Nicaragua to participate in the inauguration of Sandinista LFront for National Liberation ...

(Click here for a saved copy of this week's search.)

You'd think they were writing about an entirely different person! Look how pejorative the headlines are now: "selection of a political newcomer as his new vice president" ... "abruptly fires his vice president" ... "plans one grand socialist party, led by him" ... "double-digit inflation" ... "turning stomachs" ... "Iran, Syria, North Korea and Venezuela under Hugo Chavez" ... and now, all of a sudden, Chavez is associated with GWB: "The shared political stylings of George W. Bush and Hugo Chavez"!   Since MSM now dislikes Chavez, they can at least use him to tar GWB.

This documents that MSM's slant on the topics they cover can turn around on a dime. Once they saw themselves being threatened, all of a sudden the headlines changed.  All of a sudden now, Chavez is a bad leader, someone who should be opposed, as opposed to last week, when Chavez was someone who should be supported by all right-thinking people who have been brainwashed by drinking the MSM cool-aid.