17/07/09

British media remain silent over the expelling of Telesur and VTV journalists from Honduras

Unlike Venezuela and other countries, a majority of the British public ignores the recent events that occurred last week when six Venezuelan journalists from Telesur and VTV (Venezuelan Television) were expelled from Honduras by the de facto President Roberto Micheletti. Since the coup took place on 28th June 2009 there has been a great level of misinformation in Great Britain about what has been happening in Honduras, and the fact that six Venezuelan journalists were expelled from Honduras was not worth reporting by British newspapers.

For instance, Rory Carroll, The Guardian Latin American correspondent, has written in the past seven days about the death of a hippopotamus belonging to deceased drug-trafficker Pablo Escobar in Colombia and the visit of the Royal Ballet of Great Britain to Cuba. Yet, Carroll has not published anything about the expelled Venezuelan journalists in Honduras. Other British newspapers, such as: The Times and The Financial Times have chosen to ignore this subject, despite having correspondents in the region.

The Independent, which recently published an editorial in support of the military coup in Honduras, has also remained silent on this topic.

Francisco Dominguez General Secretary of the Venezuelan Solidarity Campaign in London said: “It is a mockery that the British Press has given priority to a hippopotamus belonging to a deceased Colombian drug-trafficker and ignored the violation of democracy in a country like Honduras, which has lacked decent news coverage about its current political situation”. The arresting and expulsion of Venezuelan journalists from VTV and Telesur has been criticized by the Committee for the Protection of Journalists which is an independent New York organization based in New York.

Press Office Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela in the United Kingdom.

Thursday 16 July 2009