Please find below a letter recently sent from academics to The Guardian requesting correction of an inaccurate video published on their website. We now are asking you to show your opposition to media misrepresentation of Venezuela by taking 30 seconds to fill in this easy online form to add your name to their letter.
LETTER FROM ACADEMICS:
We, the undersigned, request that The Guardian corrects significant inaccuracies published in “How a first-time film-maker alerted the world to Venezuela's student protests”(Shortcuts Blog, 17 February 2014).
The YouTube video, created by Adreina Nash, and republished by the Guardian contains serious inaccuracies regarding the situation and events in Venezuela, and was featured on the Guardian website without any qualification of these inaccuracies.Clear examples of incorrect information conveyed through this video are:
· False claims that millions die each day in Venezuela
· Two serious inaccuracies in its description of the 3 fatalities that had occurred (by the time the film was uploaded to Youtube) as a result of the current wave of violence in Venezuela. This includes citing as murdered somebody who is alive and omitting the death of a supporter of the government, despite widespread coverage of this in the media, and whose exclusion distorts the real events in the country
· Claiming that all opposition protests are peaceful despite the use of Molotov cocktails, rocks and other objects as weapons including on assaults on a State Governor’s house and the Ministry of Justice having already occurred at the time the video was made.·
False claims that the Venezuelan government is ‘illegitimate’ despite internationally verified elections
· False claims that the Venezuelan ‘government has taken control of the few TV stations that brought to light their corruption to the Venezuelan people’ when private TV stations have a 90% audience share.
The Editors’ Code of Practice published by the Press Complaints Commission notes that “The Press must take care not to publish inaccurate, misleading or distorted information, including pictures.”And that “A significant inaccuracy, misleading statement or distortion once recognised must be corrected, promptly and with due prominence, and - where appropriate - an apology published.”We believe that, in publishing this video on their website, the Guardian have failed to take due care in preventing inaccurate material being published. We therefore request that action is taking to issue a correction outlining the inaccuracies in the video.
Yours, Dr.Francisco Dominguez, Head of Latin American Studies, Middlesex University // Dr. Hakim Adi, University of Chichester // Dr Tunc Aybak, Middlesex University // Professor Mike Cole, Bishop Grosseteste University // Dr. Michael Derham, Northumbria University // Dr .Mark Dinneen, University of Southampton // Dr. Lucio Esposito, University of East Anglia // Professor John Gledhill, University of Manchester // Professor Peter Lambert, University of Bath // Dr. Geraldine Lievesley, Manchester Metropolitan University // Alpesh Maisuria, Lecturer, University of East London // Hazel Marsh, Lecturer, University of East Anglia // Professor Susan Michie, University College London // Dr Bevis Miller, University of Bristol // Dr. Thomas Muhr, University of Bristol // Dr. DL Raby University of Liverpool // Professor Jonathan Rosenhead, London School of Economics & Political Science // Professor Vincenzo Ruggiero, Middlesex University and fill in this easy online form to add your name
