Manufacturing Contempt

Keane Bhatt

Mainstream coverage of Latin America plays an outsize role in shaping public perceptions, discourse, and policies toward the region. Manufacturing Contempt, a blog affiliated with the Media Accuracy on Latin America (MALA) project, takes a critical look at the U.S. press and its portrayals of the hemisphere. By regularly scrutinizing prominent news and opinion, this blog intends to highlight broader tendencies in the media, and how they are shaped by money, power, and ideology.

The Maria Moors Cabot Prizes: Better Than Ever This Year

October 24, 2012

Guest post by Peter Beattie: Tomorrow's Maria Moors Cabot Prizes are awarded to “journalists who have covered the Western Hemisphere and, through their reporting and editorial work, have furthered inter-American understanding.” Based on the criteria used to select this year's winners, I bestow my own honorary Cabot Prizes.

Venezuelan Think Tank Panelist Condemns 100 Percent of Venezuelans

October 22, 2012

Unlike Mitt Romney’s remarks disparaging the 47%, which were made in private to a coterie of wealthy donors, financial consultant Pedro Burelli disparaged 100% of Venezuelans at a free event, open to the public, and hosted by one of the most prominent, bipartisan think tanks in Washington, D.C.

A Hall of Shame for Venezuelan Elections Coverage

October 08, 2012

The media's behavior in the lead-up to Venezuela’s elections has been overwhelmingly disgraceful. The Hall of Shame that follows is a sampling of some of the most typical distortions, gratuitous slurs, and incorrect predictions that readers have been exposed to over the past few weeks.

Manufacturing Consent for UN Troops in Haiti

October 01, 2012

Guest post by Ansel Herz: In the Christian Science Monitor, the head of a prominent think tank advocates for a continuation of the UN's military presence in Haiti. To do so, he must avoid the UN's responsibility for the country's cholera epidemic, assaults and killings of civilians, and its corruption of Haiti's democratic institutions.

AEI Event Aims to Discredit Ecuador and Assange, but Collapses

September 24, 2012

On September 18, the American Enterprise Institute hosted a panel called, “Assange's asylum in Correa's Ecuador: Last refuge for scoundrels?” Remarkably though, its message imploded.

Honduran Charter Cities Are a Symptom of, Not a Solution to, Instability

September 21, 2012

The mainstream media have falsely portrayed the exploration of the neoliberal charter cities idea—privately owned municipalities dedicated to producing exports—as if a sovereign, democratic government were undertaking the project with the consent of the population.

A Tale of Two Asylums: Assange, Palacio, and Media Hypocrisy

September 06, 2012

When Ecuador granted asylum to Australian journalist Julian Assange in mid-August, and then, two weeks later, the United States provided asylum to Ecuadorian journalist Emilio Palacio, the two cases threw the hypocrisy of the establishment press into stark relief.

Media Ignore New Report Questioning U.S. Role in Honduras Drug Raid

August 28, 2012

A new report on the U.S. role in a lethal raid that killed four civilians in Honduras has received zero coverage in the corporate media. At the very least, in light of new eyewitness testimony, news organizations should revisit the thoroughly accepted view that U.S. forces played only a support role in the May 11 raid.

On Haiti, Jared Diamond Hasn't Done His Homework

August 20, 2012

Geographer and author Jared Diamond seems oblivious to the corrosive role of outside interference in modern Haitian history. In his recent op-ed in The New York Times, Diamond focuses on Haiti’s supposed cultural defects as an explanation for its lack of development, rather than the crimes of foreign powers.

The New York Times Publishes Misplaced Concerns Over Mercosur

August 06, 2012

The New York Times recently published concerns over Venezuela’s entry to Mercosur, Latin America's largest trade bloc. Mercosur purportedly “sets a terrible example for the region” by allowing in a country with “precarious protection of democratic rights,” according to those quoted by the Times. In contrast, the newspaper uses no space in its article to explain the background behind the antidemocratic ouster of Paraguay's president, Fernando Lugo, a reason behind Mercosur's inclusion of Venezuela.

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Manufacturing Contempt