By Les Blough
In the Reuters report republished in full below, the corporate media (CNBC/Reuters) overstepped itself - again - taking every conceivable opportunity to attack President Chávez in what should have been a simple, straight-forward news bulletin. They begin by raising questions about his character, then continue an attempt to undermine his statement about Venezuela's oil reserves:
- "...the former soldier said in a speech in which he denied he is a dictator, complained he was being unfairly demonized."
What has this description of the president to do with the report on oil reserves? In a similar report about Saudi Arabian oil would they refer to the unelected King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz as one who denies he is a dictator? (On the other hand, how could the Abdullah deny the obvious!)
- "There are suggestions that countries, including Saudi Arabia and Venezuela, have exaggerated their oil reserves in the past."
"There are suggestions" - by whom? CNBC and Reuters or their "experts?" Can Reuters provide us with a credible example?
- "Others say the lack of independent verification gave rise to doubts."
"others say" - who are they and who is doing the doubting?
- "A year ago, the U.S. Geological Survey reported that the Orinoco belt held some 513 billion barrels of crude that could be recovered — if costs were not an issue."
If the U.S. Geological Survey does not qualify as "independent verification" in the eyes of Reuters, who does?
- "Some experts say ... that even with global prices currently climbing to close to $100 a barrel, exploiting most of it would be prohibitively expensive."
