Fake News: CNN Falsely Claims US-Appointed Venezuelan Coup Plotter GuaidĂł was âElectedâ
Six CNN “journalists” produced an article falsely claiming US-appointed Venezuelan coup leader Juan GuaidĂł 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 Venezuelaâs US-appointed right-wing coup leader Juan GuaidĂł 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 companyâs editorial team. Yet it was still published â a clear sign that CNNâs 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.
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On May 5, CNN published a print article titled âMilitary helicopter crashes in Venezuela, killing 7, amid protests,â 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 An archived version of the article at the Wayback Machine shows that it claimed: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 GuaidĂł, 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 GuaidĂł as the bodyâs president. And GuaidĂłâs January 23 self-declaration as âinterim presidentâ of the country was the culmination of a coup plot that the US, Colombia, and Brazil planned weeks before.
Canada also schemed with GuaidĂł two weeks before he declared himself âinterim president.â The Wall Street Journal even reported that US Vice President Mike Pence called GuaidĂł to greenlight the coup attempt and reassure Washingtonâs steadfast guidance.
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GuaidĂł 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 Venezuelaâs supposed leader.
Vague âcorrectionâ
After numerous public figures pointed out CNNâs comically false claim, the corporate media outlet issued a quiet correction at the bottom of the piece â a vague one that obscures the original “error”:
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story incorrectly described how Juan Guaido came to be Venezuelaâs 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 GallĂłn.
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 GuaidĂł was “elected.” Zero standardshttps://t.co/PwZQwMZbp9 pic.twitter.com/2uRzMNzWd3
â 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: âIt 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.â Missed that. https://t.co/m58bWjRGys https://t.co/m58bWjRGys
â 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 itâs still there fix this error
â 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.
â Jeanne Bonner (@bonnerjeanne) May 6, 2019
According to her website, CNNâs Jeanne Bonner teaches Italian at the University of Connecticut, and won a grant in 2018 for English translation of Italian literature â 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.
Ben Norton
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.
