The Issue
Venezuela has been undergoing political uncertainties for long since the taking of the office by the current president Nicolas Maduro in 2013. The country has been in the state of brinkmanship following the political upheavals which mostly are triggered by sharp and highly opinionated leadership. The economic situation in the country as reported by most of the mainstream media outlets has been worsened by the political tension. The rise of inflation and unprecedented social injustices have been pointed out as some of the major challenges the Venezuelan people have to contend with.
Following the 2018 May elections, there has been unwarranted political tension across the Venezuelan cities. The conflict has been triggered by the fact that there are contrasting opinions taken by the opposition majority national assembly and the supreme tribunal which is pro-Maduro. Since the beginning of the year 2019 precisely 10 th of January, there has been a debate on the legitimacy of the Venezuelan presidency. This followed the dispute by most of the electorates. This could be confirmed from the National Assembly which declared Maduro’s presidency illegitimate during his second-time inauguration as per the Venezuelan constitution enacted by Hugo Chavez the immediate president before Maduro. There have been political activities in concerned to this state of affairs ranging from both national and international diplomatic meetings and discussions. Like many countries with election outcomes, there have been protests in Venezuela as a dispute to the legitimacy of Maduro. Different media outlets in the world sphere have been seen to give coverage to different stories linked to the political situation in Venezuela.
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The Stories about the Venezuelan Presidential Crisis
Story One: The National Assembly Rejects Maduro’s Second Term
Fox News Coverage
https://www.foxnews.com/world/venezuelas-congress-names-new-leader-vows-to-battle-maduro
From the Fox News headlines, ‘’Venezuelan congress names new leader, vows to battle Maduro’’. The report published on 5 th of January as an update of the events going on in Venezuela following the political turmoil brought about by the illegitimacy of Maduro’s elections. Giving more details about the update, the news reported that the first meeting of the Congress named Juan Guaido as the leader of the Congress.
Type of Story: News update
Visual Elements : Photos of Juan Guaido and other members of the Congress
New Information Reported: Among other news reported is that this was the first act of the Congress. It was informative to learn from the reports that the power of the National Assembly has been captivated by Maduro. Another important report about the update is that this was one of the political activities taking place in Venezuela before the expected Maduro’s swearing-in plans which were to take place amid claims of illegitimacy. Again it is within the same piece of the report that the Latin American opinions about the presidency of Maduro were highlighted. The countries were reported as protesting the decision of the Venezuelan body to declare Maduro as the Venezuelan president.
Tone: The reporting of this news was unbiased regardless of the opinion the public has on the Fox news in regard to their conservatives and right wing leaning. The reporter exhibited a high sense of neutrality and unfathomable professionalism. Again there was the actual reporting of the speech given by Guaido who claimed that Maduro was a dictator and that Venezuela was living the part of dark history.
Prominence: The story was given prominence as could be seen it was categorized as a hot topic within the website.
Accouterments: The graphics presented were two distinct pictorial views one with the members of the Congress and the other with the congress head taking photos with his family.
Social Media: There were no comments or even the comments section on the website. However, the reaction in the social media as per the posting on Facebook most of the people had the same comments lauding the act of Julian Guaido as brevity.
Overall Contribution: This reporting was a landmark on its own making as it highlighted with emphasis on the pre occurrence and the expected activities in connection to Venezuelan presidential crisis.
Story Two: Maduro’s Inauguration
BBC News Coverage:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-46821653
The story about Maduro inauguration for the second time in Venezuela sparked a lot of outrage. As reported by the BBC. The reporting gave the most prominent events preceding the inauguration and the likely event from their sidebars.
Type of Story: Analysis
Visual Elements: Videos showing Maduro giving a speech, Photos showing Maduro taking the office and showing the party sign
New Information Reported: out of the New content regarding the swearing in, there are the report elements showing the elections back in May 2018. The activities prior to the inauguration. The better part of the reporting is marred by Maduro’s speech during the event. Also, there were reports on the United Nations representative from the United States who termed the process as an insult to democracy. There are reports on the economic situation in Venezuela terming the hard conditions of life most of the country’s populace is undergoing.
Tone: The reporting, in this case, is having some leanings to the condemnation of Venezuelan president. As could be noted most of the reports were geared at condemning the actions of Maduro. This could be seen in the reporting of the voter percentage garnered by Maduro which the opposition side said was lower. In the reporting, this is not initiated by terms such as claims. Looking at the assertions by Maduro on the sanctions of the United States to the Venezuelan government the reporting starts by claims.
Prominence: This story was given prominence as it runs all over the website. More than five stories relating to Maduro’s activities were seen on the sidebar. More links were created for the stories of the same kind. It was presented both as a video and many pictorial demonstrations of the activities of Maduro.
Accouterments: There were added stories of economic activities. Again there are videos showing Maduro giving a speech about the political propaganda initiated by its enemies
Social Media. At the comments section, there were opposing commentaries about the event with some people sharing the reporting by BBC
Overall Contribution. The analysis from this report gave a comprehensive insight to the events about Venezuela as it took it by bits. However, there was a lot of junk following the many stories placed on the website
Story Three : Venezuela's opposition leader takes oath as interim president, endorsed by Canada, U.S
CBC News Coverage
https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/venezuela-president-protest-guaido-maduro-1.4989733
Type of Story: Breaking News
Visual Elements: There are photos showing the opposition leader taking the oath of the office. There are the pictures on the bigger gatherings looking at the event of the inauguration. Also, the combating of the threats by the officers is seen
New Information Reported. There are reports on the recognition of Guaido in the role. The reports indicate that the people of Canada are standing firm with the people of Venezuela. There are reports about the support of Donald Trump in connection with the event. Other Latin American countries such as Argentina and Peru recognized Guaido as the president of Venezuela. Focusing on Mexico, there were comments on the country not taking any position for the meantime.
Tone: There is a demonstration of a high level of professionalism in this reporting. It is marked by neutrality. The report is seen as having zero tolerance to any leaning or bias which might arise from any perceptions.
Prominence. The story is given prominence as it is giving explicit connections with other stories and events. There are stories about Maduro’s own thoughts and how he feels about the same. It is of importance to note that the reporting was comprehensive as it gives the pictorial view of the events which took place.
Accouterments. There is a clear distinction of the events and giving of the commentaries within the website as pertains to the same story. There are stories running on the website with pictures showing such events including the police combating the protests.
Social Media: There are comments with some accusing the reports of the ignorance about the events in Venezuela.
Subject representation: There is the representation of the subjects by the showing of the events of the Venezuelan people showing the dissatisfaction through the protests. This acts at the interest of the Venezuelan people
Overall Contribution: This report has greatly contributed to the debunking of the myths of what might have been believed to be taking place in Venezuela. There is a clear demonstration of how the people are feeling about the Venezuelan presidency.
Story Four: Cutting Links
BBC News Coverage
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-46982692
Maduro cuts links with the United States after it recognized opposition leader. From the headlines, the country through there president gave the American diplomats 72 hours to leave Venezuela. The American government retaliated by saying Maduro has no powers to give such an order
Type of Story: Analysis
Visual Elements. There is a video showing thousands of people protesting against Maduro. The report is also marked by photos showing the protests in the streets of Venezuela.
New Information Reported: There are reports through the demonstration by graphs on the inflation of the Venezuelan economy. Again there are reports on the way other nations reacted to the incidences of Maduro actions. There are reports on whether Trump is planning to take the American military to Venezuela. In response, the American diplomats believe that they are looking at the direction the event will take.
Tone: There is an exhibition of professionalism in this reporting. The news streaming, in this case, is marked by neutrality and some sense of fairness.
Prominence. This story was of prominence as it was marked by a number of emphatic features and many sidebars.
Accouterments. There are many stories related to this one with much emphasis given through the topical questions. The topical questions are seen as playing a vital role in making the story gain prominence
Social Media. There were social media contributions most of which were from the American citizens who were not comfortable with the news as it posed a threat on some of the American citizens. Also, there were witnessed some cases of political leanings from the comments. Some blamed the American presidency of the issues.
Subject representation: The reporting was more focused on the Venezuelan people as the economic issues were also highlighted through professional
Overall Contribution: This report contributed significantly to the knowledge of geopolitics as could be seen from the sidebar in which the Russians were planning to send their planes. Showing the antagonisms between the major powers
Story Five: Humanitarian Crisis
CNN Coverage
https://edition.cnn.com/2019/02/21/americas/venezuela-aid-power-struggle-intl/index.html
This story received international coverage with many organizations involved in the aid campaign. Important is that there were conflicts on the aid campaigns which were marked by principles of given organizations. The crisis on the humanitarian aid was seen through this report was marked by a lot of political activities and interest.
Type of Story: Analysis
Visual Elements. There are photos showing the blockages on the borders and the entry points to the country. There are videos actually showing the crisis as people are stranded some are leaving the country. There are indications of the political activities with videos showing the opposition leader in the act of the activities and the stand on the blockage of humanitarian aid by Maduro.
New Information Reported. There is the information reported concerning the specific agencies taking part in the aid distribution. There is the information on the reason as to why the international aid organizations are not joining the opposition in their campaign for aid.
Tone. There is neutrality and professionalism in this reporting. There is fairness and factual evidence presented on the website to authenticate the happening in Venezuela.
Prominence. The story was of prominence as it was shown on different occasions on the CNN website and other media outlets.
Accouterments. The graphical contents mentioned above were not placed in terms of links but actually portrayed within the website. There were links within the website which could direct the readers to other readings within the CNN media coverages.
Subject representation: This is one of the most representative reports as the refugees were seen as given their states of affairs and the conditions at which they were in.
Social Media: There were a lot of reactions from the social media factions who were condemning Maduro of his actions. There were debates on the need for the actions to be taken to help the vulnerable.
Overall Contribution. This story brought up a high sense of feeling about humanity which supposes the political activities which people were holding to earlier.
Story Six: Sweeping Sanctions against Venezuelan oil companies
CNN Business Coverage
https://edition.cnn.com/2019/02/19/investing/venezuela-oil-sanctions-pdvsa/index.html
The reports were explaining how the US sanctioning on oil were ripping on oil markets
Type of Story: Analysis
Visual Elements. Videos giving the presentation on the economic consequences of the Venezuelan sanctions on the market of the oil. The reports were on the uncertainties caused by these sanctions on the Venezuelan oil markets.
New Information Reported. The other information given in this report is on the humanitarian aid and the social state the people of Venezuela are in. There is a related article on the sidebar indicating how the tapping of oil on America's reserve is a bad economic idea.
Tone. The tone shown in this case is professional and unbiased. There is a higher level of fairness and maintenance to professional and positive analytical boundaries.
Prominence. This story dominated the CNN business website. In most of the sidebars, it was giving a relational story covering the same incidences of sanctions.
Accouterments. The sidebars were giving the links to other stories on the same topics and the directional actions to other topics which could be seen as the political situation of the Venezuelan activities in connection to the sanctions. There is the dominance of the aid activities to the sanctions which have been seen as the reason behind the heated political debate.
Social Media. There were reactions from the business world in connection to the action of sanctions. The commentaries from the social media were seen as more inclined to the United States actions. There were debates on the effect of the economy and the loss of jobs.
Subject representation. There is little on the subject representation on this report as most of the affected were not covered in the report.
Overall Contribution. There is seen the need for the change in the situation as the analysis suggests. It is expected that there will be reactions to these challenges.
Story Seven: Claim of coup de tat by Nicolas Maduro.
Aljazeera Coverage:
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/01/venezuela-cuts-ties-citing-support-coup-attempt-190124062525471.html
The Venezuelan administration through Nicolas Maduro has cut ties with the United States citing the attempts by the opposition to stage a coup with the help of the United States. A report was given on 24 January 2019 indicates that the reaction followed the recognition of the opposition as the legitimate government.
Type of Story: update
Visual Elements. There are videos showing the press briefing by Maduro on his reactions and on the actions taken by the United States. Also, there are videos by the opposition leader giving a speech. There are pictorial illustrations of Maduro rallies.
New Information Reported. There are reports on the arrest of the military officers who were thought be rogue. Again on the sidebar, there are articles and links directing readers to the transformations of Venezuela since the death of Hugo Chavez.
Tone. The tone depicted in this reporting as shown some sense of professionalism and competencies which are prominent in the reporting of the politically instigated matters in the world.
Prominence. The prominence of this story could be confirmed by the actions and the sidebar links which were giving the analysis of the situation. There are several stories presented in this fashion of the Aljazeera website. The story appeared in different depiction including the pictorial portrayals and video coverages.
Accouterments. Related links to the arrest of the officers who were thought to be rogue.
Social Media. According to most of the opinions presented it could be learned that most of the people were in support of the American actions on the Venezuelan capital. most of the people outside the United States were seeing the action as meddling.
Subject representation . There is the representation of the subjects by the coverage of the police activities on the protestors which were seen as violent.
Overall Contribution: This report is important for the emancipation of the people of the events in Venezuela.
Story Eight: Protest for Entry of Aid
Los Angeles times Coverage
https://www.latimes.com/world/la-fg-venezuela-maduro-guaido-protests-20190130-story.html
inasmuch as Maduro remained defiant, protesters, as reported on 30th of January, gave their stand that they are not afraid and that they will go on demanding for food and other aid as they could not live without the basics.
Type of Story: Feature
Visual Elements: pictures of the protesters, matching by the opposition leader.
New Information Reported. There is information given in regard to the possibility of the American invading the Venezuelan territory. More information is given as to attempt of the Maduro administration to arrest the opposition chief.
Tone. There is explicit neutrality and professionalism in this reporting marked by integrity and bias. This can be seen on the protest of the Venezuelan people.
Prominence. This was a story on the main page of the newspaper
Accouterments. There are various stories of the same nature within the main part of the newspaper. However, there are no linkages to the sidebars. The news is seen as having some state of autonomy as it is not given some linkage which would suggest the infusion of the information from the two.
Social Media. There were some social media postings in regard to the support of the protestors.
Subject representation. There is a clear representation of the subjects in this case as could be seen in the moods in which they were and how they carried their placards in the protest.
Overall Contribution. This indicates the level at which the protest was at and that it could brew the world attention for the intervention.
Story Nine: European Union Recognize Juan Guaido as the Venezuelan leader
Aljazeera Coverage
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/01/eu-nations-give-venezuela-maduro-day-ultimatum-190126115807947.html
Type of Story: Sidebar
Visual Elements : There is a picture showing the Spanish prime minister urging the elections in Venezuela to be conducted within the premise of transparency and accountability.
New Information Reported. There are reports on the Spanish interest of Venezuela owing to the fact that the country is its former colony. There are also the reports of the opposition leader rejecting the talks with Maduro. There are some reports of threats from the European nations of the need to recognize Juan Guaido as the president of Venezuela.
Tone: The tone in this story is hard news as it gave the avenue for the political activities marked by protests within the Venezuelan community.
Prominence. This was a representation of the main story presented from the sidebar. But it was proving its prominence through the information-driven and drawn
Accouterments. Related activities are on the sidebar news in which there are reports of the American government intending to intensify the stun on Maduro
Social Media. There were no comments on the website. However, from the link, there is a discussion on the issues by both the Americans and the European community.
Subject representation. The subject of the story was well illustrated with the quotations from each of the European leaders.
Overall Contribution: This is an advancement in the way the political situation may be contained through story coverages.
Story Ten: Juan Guaido tours to Latin America
Fox News Coverage
https://www.foxnews.com/world/venezuelas-guaido-urges-supporters-to-protest-on-monday
the reports published on 3 rd of March 2019 shows the self-declared president urging his supporters for a nationwide protest. While in Ecuador, Guaido was giving his official announcements regarding the movements and his expectations for the country.
Type of Story: Update
Visual Elements: Photos of Guaido and the wife at the foreign Balcony of Buenos Aires in Argentina.
New Information Reported. Guaido was calling for the demonstration before his return to the country.
Tone. The story was predominantly factual with most of the information being neutral. With this, it was a potential of brewing up actions and more protests.
Prominence. This was an update of the expected event before it actually occurred.
Accouterments. There are the videos giving the state of protest in France with Macron giving lectures to some of the old protestors.
Social Media: There were more shares and comments in connection to the expected return of the opposition leader to the Venezuelan soil.
Subject representation. There was a clear representation of the event through coverages with pictures and the statements which could be seen as paramount to the event.
Overall Contribution: This is facilitation for the activities of protest which were looming upon arrival.
Story Eleven: Guaido returns to Venezuela.
The guardian Coverage:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/mar/04/guaido-venezuela-return-maduro-us-washington
Guaido returns to Venezuela with the main aim of dislodging Maduro from power. In his return which was scheduled for Monday, the leader expected to land and be greeted with supporters at the airport.
Type of Story: Feature
Visual Elements. Photo showing Guaido with supporters upon the arrival.
New Information Reported. There were demonstrations within the streets of Venezuela in support of the safe return of the opposition leader. Also, there were fears that the opposition leader could be arrested upon arrival from his five-country tour in Latin America.
Tone: inasmuch as the language used was fair and neutral, there was a lot of information given pertaining to the events which preceded the occasion and the expected activities upon arrival.
Prominence: This was the main story covered in the main story page and headline.
Accouterments: At the sidebar, there is the story on the United States isolation from the Venezuelan issue.
Social Media: There was a lot of social media coverage and comments pertaining to the return of Guaido to Venezuela. The comments section was characterized by the support of activities of the opposition chief.
Subject representation. There was the effective coverage of the subjects of which in this case was represented by the supporters. More importantly, the subject was well covered bearing in mind that there were pictorial demonstration and illustration of the events which took place upon the arrival of the chief opposition leader.
Overall Contribution: This coverage is a point of encouragement of the opposition supporters of the clarity on the fear of arrests.
Story Twelve: Maduro blames power blackout to American cyber-attacks.
The Guardian Coverage
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/mar/12/nicolas-maduro-blames-demonic-trump-plot-for-blackout-crippling-venezuela
On the report which appeared on the Guardian on 12 th March Maduro is seen as condemning the United States on its blackout. The United States pulls its staff from Venezuela as Maduro blames the power blackout on Trump’s and Guaido’s schemes to sabotage his authority.
Type of Story: Breaking news
Visual Elements: There are photos giving the account of the events which unfolded and the state at which Venezuela was in the past four days it had no electricity connection.
New Information Reported. The new information in the report is on the intention of the American government to pull out all its staff from Venezuela. There are reports on the comment of Guaido who claims that Venezuela has collapsed
Tone: The story was marked by a number of facts. Important is the information and the content of the information passed in the entire report. There is the element of incitement as could be seen from Maduro address to the people.
Prominence: This was an actual story take the major heading of the newspaper.
Accouterments. There is the related video portraying the effects of the blackout on the Venezuelan people with pictures showing the state of the blackout.
Social Media: There were comments supporting the United States to move to pull out its staff from Venezuela. Again there was a lot of discussion pertaining to the peaceful settlement of the scores.
Subject representation: There was a proper and efficient coverage of the subject as could be seen from the direct quotes by Maduro. A proper pictorial illustration of the speech and the demonstration of the state of Maduro.
Overall Contribution: This report is a tool of emancipation to the events in Venezuela and more informative on the political situation in some of the Latin American countries.
https://www.foxnews.com/world/venezuelas-congress-names-new-leader-vows-to-battle-maduro
https://www.foxnews.com/world/venezuelas-congress-names-new-leader-vows-to-battle-maduro
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-46821653
https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/venezuela-president-protest-guaido-maduro-1.4989733
https://edition.cnn.com/2019/02/21/americas/venezuela-aid-power-struggle-intl/index.html
https://edition.cnn.com/2019/02/19/investing/venezuela-oil-sanctions-pdvsa/index.html
