That AP article is typical of the recent corporate media backpedaling. While acknowledging in the 12th paragraph that the military is engaging in a “crackdown” that has left “dozens partially blinded,” the authors spent the first four paragraphs describing the “looting” and “attacks” allegedly carried out by protesters, implicitly rationalizing the state’s repression.
AP joins the vast majority of Western media in ignoring the INDH’s appalling statistics concerning the widespread criminality of Chilean state security forces. According to the body, as of November 4, 1,659 people have been hospitalized for injuries, including 40 shot with live ammunition, 473 wounded by buckshot and 305 by unidentified firearms.
The INDH has filed 181 lawsuits against state bodies so far, among them 133 for torture and 19 for sexual violence, including two cases of alleged rape.
For the most part, the op-ed pages of major Western newspapers continue to ignore or whitewash the crimes of the Piñera government.
A rare exception is a hard-hitting Washington Post op-ed (10/29/19) by Rodrigo Espinoza Troncoso and Michael Wilson Becerril, denouncing the state’s “brutal repression” and pointing to Chile’s anti-democratic, Pinochet-crafted constitution as the problem.
Most outlets have churned out a steady stream of “think pieces” blaming “inequality” for the protests, and calling on Piñera to address it (New York Times, 10/25/19; Washington Post, 10/29/19; Guardian, 10/30/19; Financial Times, 10/28/19). Others dispute that inequality is even a structural problem, chiding Chilean protesters for not appreciating the “success” of Chile’s neoliberal model (Bloomberg, 10/30/19; Miami Herald, 10/23/19).
To date, no corporate outlets have referred to Piñera as “authoritarian” or a “dictator,” as they have done repeatedly in the case of Venezuela’s Maduro (FAIR.org, 4/11/19) and increasingly Bolivia’s Morales. No Western newspaper has published an editorial demanding their government pressure Piñera to end the military crackdown and relinquish power.
The coverage of Chile’s uprising proves once again that criminality on the part of Western states and their clients is perfectly palatable to corporate journalists whose atrocity, Michael Parenti observes, is always “against the truth.”
Featured image: For several weeks, Chileans have taken to the streets to protest their neoliberal government. (Screen shot / YouTube)
Lucas Koerner
Lucas Koerner is a journalist and political analyst based in Caracas, Venezuela. He currently serves on the editorial board of Venezuelanalysis.
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