Skip to content
August 17, 2022
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Instagram
  • Reddit
  • Telegram
  • TikTok
  • LinkedIn
Orinoco Tribune – News and opinion pieces about Venezuela and beyond

Orinoco Tribune – News and opinion pieces about Venezuela and beyond

From Venezuela and made by Venezuelan Chavistas

Primary Menu
  • News
  • Opinion
  • About us
    • About us
    • Who we are – Becoming a Volunteer
    • Editorial guidelines for contributors
    • Our Sources
      • Venezuelan Sources
      • International Sources
    • Contact us
  • Categories
    • Politics
    • Economy
    • Security and Defense
    • International
      • Africa
      • Asia
      • Europe
      • Oceania
      • US/Canada
    • Latin America and ALBA-TCP
      • South America
      • Central America and the Caribbean (+Mexico)
    • Ideology-Commune-Labor
    • Health-Education-Sport-Culture-Technology
    • Solidarity and Social Movements
    • OT Specials
  • Support Us
Light/Dark Button
YouTube Channel
  • Home
  • Opinion
  • Fake News: CNN Falsely Claims US-Appointed Venezuelan Coup Plotter Guaidó was “Elected”
  • International
  • Opinion

Fake News: CNN Falsely Claims US-Appointed Venezuelan Coup Plotter Guaidó was “Elected”

Benjamin Norton May 7, 2019

Six CNN “journalists” produced an article falsely claiming US-appointed Venezuelan coup leader Juan Guaidó was elected, before quietly issuing a misleading correction.

By Ben Norton

The corporate media network that has turned fact-checking into a sport in the Trump era cannot get its own facts straight on Venezuela.

On May 6, CNN published an article falsely claiming that Venezuela’s US-appointed right-wing coup leader Juan Guaidó had been elected president of his country.

Six CNN reporters contributed to this report, meaning this blatantly false claim went by at least 12 eyes, in addition to the company’s editorial team. Yet it was still published — a clear sign that CNN’s award-winning staff is either extremely ignorant about what is happening on the ground in Venezuela, or confident that it can deceive the American public.

RELATED CONTENT: Fabricating a Coup D’Etat: Lessons From April 30

On May 5, CNN published a print article titled “Military helicopter crashes in Venezuela, killing 7, amid protests,” which has two co-authors and four more contributing reporters. An archived version of the article at the Wayback Machine shows that it claimed:

It [the helicopter crash] comes as pressure is mounting on Maduro to step down, following elections in January in which voters chose opposition leader Juan Guaido over him for president.

This is complete fiction. There was no election in Venezuela in January. Voters did not elect Juan Guaidó, and never have. It is a fabrication.

Weeks of coup-plotting, no election

In reality, the right-wing opposition-controlled National Assembly, not voters, selected Guaidó as the body’s president. And Guaidó’s January 23 self-declaration as “interim president” of the country was the culmination of a coup plot that the US, Colombia, and Brazil planned weeks before.

Canada also schemed with Guaidó two weeks before he declared himself “interim president.” The Wall Street Journal even reported that US Vice President Mike Pence called Guaidó to greenlight the coup attempt and reassure Washington’s steadfast guidance.

RELATED CONTENT: Venezuela: of the Furious and the Simulacra

Guaidó has never been elected, and 81 percent of Venezuelans did not even know who the inexperienced 35-year-old was before the US government recognized him as Venezuela’s supposed leader.

Vague ‘correction’

After numerous public figures pointed out CNN’s comically false claim, the corporate media outlet issued a quiet correction at the bottom of the piece — a vague one that obscures the original “error”:

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story incorrectly described how Juan Guaido came to be Venezuela’s self-declared president.

CNN did not make a public announcement or apologize for this outrageously false claim. Nor did the two co-authors of this article, Jeanne Bonner and Jackie Castillo. Nor did the four more CNN reporters who contributed to it, Ryan Browne, Claudia Dominguez, Sandra Sanchez, and Natalie Gallón.

CNN quietly issued an embarrassing correction to its ridiculous propaganda after pro-opposition journalists / PR people @BonnerJeanne and @CNNJackie FALSELY claimed that Trump-appointed right-wing Venezuelan puppet Juan Guaidó was “elected.” Zero standardshttps://t.co/PwZQwMZbp9 pic.twitter.com/2uRzMNzWd3

— Ben Norton (@BenjaminNorton) May 6, 2019

Historian Alejandro Velasco, a professor at New York University and executive director of NACLA, drew attention to the fake news on Twitter.

This is some next level journalism: “It comes as pressure is mounting on Maduro to step down, following elections in January in which voters chose opposition leader Juan Guaido over him for president.” Missed that. https://t.co/m58bWjRGys https://t.co/m58bWjRGys

— Alejandro Velasco (@AleVelascoNYU) May 6, 2019

When called out by an ex-Bloomberg journalist on the morning of May 6, hours after the article was first published, Bonner admitted responsibility.

But seriously @CNN it’s still there fix this error

— Jasmina Kelemen (@JasminaKelemen) May 6, 2019

Yes, my apologies. I should have said the current constitutional crisis dates to January. The mistake is being fixed. Thank you Jasmina.

— Jeanne Bonner (@bonnerjeanne) May 6, 2019

According to her website, CNN’s Jeanne Bonner teaches Italian at the University of Connecticut, and won a grant in 2018 for English translation of Italian literature — impeccable qualifications for reporting on Venezuela. She also previously worked for NPR and has reported for The New York Times.

CNN loves to do fact checks of the Donald Trump administration, but appears to be incapable of fact-checking itself.

Ben Norton is a journalist and writer. He is a reporter for The Grayzone, and the producer of the Moderate Rebels podcast, which he co-hosts with Max Blumenthal. His website is BenNorton.com, and he tweets at @BenjaminNorton.

Source URL: The GreyZone

Want More?

Don't want to be a victim of the Algorithm?

SIGN UP TO RECEIVE OUR WEEKLY NEWSLETTER WITH ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT VENEZUELA

We don’t spam! Read our privacy policy for more info.

Benjamin Norton
Website | + posts

Benjamin Norton is the founder and editor of the independent news website Multipolarista, where he does original reporting in both English and Spanish. Benjamin has reported from numerous countries, including Venezuela, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Ecuador, Honduras, Colombia, and more. His journalistic work has been published in dozens of media outlets, and he has done interviews on Sky News, Al Jazeera, Democracy Now, El Financiero Bloomberg, Al Mayadeen teleSUR, RT, TRT World, CGTN, Press TV, HispanTV, Sin Censura, and various TV channels in Mexico, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Bolivia. Benjamin writes a regular column for Al Mayadeen (in English and Spanish). He was formerly a reporter with the investigative journalism website The Grayzone, and previously produced the political podcast and video show Moderate Rebels. His personal website is BenNorton.com, and he tweets at @BenjaminNorton.

  • Benjamin Norton
    #molongui-disabled-link
    Venezuela’s US-Backed Coup Leader Immediately Targets State Oil Company, Requests IMF Money
  • Benjamin Norton
    #molongui-disabled-link
    Trump Official Boasts Crippling US Sanctions on Venezuela Are Like Darth Vader’s Death Grip
  • Benjamin Norton
    #molongui-disabled-link
    Instagram Acts as Arm of US Govt, Bans Top Iranian Officials After IRGC ‘Terrorist’ Designation
  • Benjamin Norton
    #molongui-disabled-link
    US-backed Opposition Leader Admits Venezuela “is Not a Dictatorship” and Only Foreign Intervention can Topple Maduro
Tags: CNN coup d’etat fake news Guaido media warfare US Imperialism

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)

Continue Reading

Previous Previous post:

Pence to Reward Venezuelan Coup Participants with Carrots

Next Next post:

Honduras 1,000 Israeli Soldiers To Arrive in Honduras to Train Troops, Police on Border Protection

Tax deductible donations

One time donations

Recurrent donations

Calendar

August 2022
M T W T F S S
1234567
891011121314
15161718192021
22232425262728
293031  
« Jul    

NEWS: Most Viewed 72 Hours

Categories

Subscribe to Our Weekly Newsletter

We keep your data private and share your data only with third parties that make this service possible. Read our Privacy Policy.

Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription.

OPINION: Most Viewed 72 hours

We are on Telegram


Receive our news directly in your cellphone or PC, join us on our TELEGRAM channel: https://t.me/OrinocoTribune1

Download TELEGRAM, click the link above and then press the JOIN button.

We are Copyleft not Copyright


Creative Commons License
All Orinoco Tribune's work is free to use and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

We are on Reddit


If you are more into REDDIT, join our Orinoco Tribune Community.
Just click below and then click JOIN
https://www.reddit.com/r/OrinocoTribune/

 

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Instagram
  • Reddit
  • Telegram
  • TikTok
  • LinkedIn
Copyleft, No rights reserved.