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Media Accuracy on Latin America |
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As I’ve written before, the establishment media’s coverage of Latin America is atrocious. That much is apparent to anyone who has an interest in the region. Now, NACLA (North American Congress on Latin America) is attempting to underscore the issue with a new web-based campaign. MALA (Media Accuracy on Latin America), will provide in-depth coverage of the region, as well as critical analysis of the news we already receive.
NACLA provided interested parties with the following introduction via email:
We have seen the vitally important role that the press plays with regard to U.S. foreign policy. If we’ve learned anything from the war in Iraq, it’s that we need the fourth estate to be responsible to the American people and to critically investigate the actions and postures of our government, said Christy Thornton, Executive Director of the North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA), publisher of the nation’s most widely read English language magazine on Latin America, the NACLA Report on the Americas.
Indeed, the press is squandering a tremendous opportunity to document the historical and socio-political transformations underway in the hemisphere. Rather than providing in-depth coverage, for example, of the popular opposition to the proposed neo-liberal trade pact in Central America (CAFTA) or the U.S. government¹s continued funding of failed anti-drug measures, news outlets water down their Latin America coverage with superficial stories, like The Miami Herald’s April 2007 report on the surge in cosmetic surgery among Venezuelan men. As a result, the American public and its representatives in government remain under- and misinformed about the Latin American reality, especially as it relates to U.S. policy toward the region.
Check it out, bookmark it, be in the know.
