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A new study by the Media Research Centerfound that the three major networks ABC, NBC, and CBS have dedicated a minuscule amount of coverage to the growing economic and civil rights crises including catastrophic levels of unemployment, hunger, and inflation, and the brutal repression of peaceful protests by the controlling government in Venezuela.

Additionally, MRC found that when the networks actually havecovered the crisis, theyve rarely mentioned the governments socialist system as a factor in the nationstroubles.

MRCbased itstimeline fromMarch 2013 (after socialist Venezuelan President HugoChavez death)through May 29, 2017. Through that time, ABC, NBC, and CBS evening news shows aired a total of25 stories on the Venezuelan crisis, totaling 28 minutes, and 39 seconds of coverage on the socialist country. This amounts to almost 3o seconds a month.

The major networks dedicated no news stories to the advancement of Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduros powers within Venezuela, including in November 2013 when then-socialist controlled National Assembly giving Maduro emergency powers, which permitted him to bypass the National Assembly and rule by decree, orin May 2017 when thesocialist-dominated Supreme Court ruled to strip power from the opposition-lead Congress.

MRC noted that human rights groups Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch made condemnations of human rights violations in places such as Syria, and Venezuela. Of the 17 times the Human Rights Watch, and 14 times Amnesty International were mentioned by the networks over the four-year period,the condemnations of Venezuela by the human rights groups have gone completely untouched by the media, said the MRC.

Furthermore, of the 25 stories dedicated to Venezuela by the three networks, onlyseven of the stories mentioned socialisms involvement. ABC World News never mentioned socialismat all, CBS Evening News mentioned it once, and NBC Nightly News mentioned it six times.

ABC did mention socialism on Nightline whenMatt Gutman said inFebruary 2014 said, When the price of oil crashed, the economy went with it, exposing the failures of Hugo Chavezs socialist government.

The MRC gave examples of how socialism was addressed by the major networks, and neither seem to highlight socialisms effects on the country, mentioning it only in passing.

From the MRC:

One of the exceptions: On the April 20 NBC Nightly News, correspondent Jacob Rascon noted that The Venezuelan economy has been in freefall for yearsProtesters blamed President Nicolas Maduro and his socialist government.

On May 4, CBS Evening News anchor Scott Pelley finally used the term for the first time since Chavezs death, when reporting on the worsening situation. Running battles continue in Venezuelas capital. They broke out a month ago when the socialist president tried to grab more power. At least 37have been killed.

Maduros socialist government has controls, or has part ownership in over 500 companies, 70 percent of which are bleeding money. This in turn has caused many to lose their jobs, leading to 25 percent unemployment. To combat the growing problem, Maduro hiked minimum wage for the third time in a year to over 65,000 bolivars a month.

Inflation is expected to surge to over 750 percent, making the bolivar virtually worthless.

Venezuelas major economic, and food shortagecrises have put the socialist country on the brink of civil war as thousands of rioters burn property, loot stores, and engage in violence with Venezuelan authorities. Venezuelan security forces have in turn engaged in brutal violence against the protesters and rioters.

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Major networks ignore socialism's impact on Venezuelan crisis ... - TheBlaze.com

John Stossel 10:02 a.m. ET June 2, 2017

20/20 - JOHN STOSSEL(Photo: STEVE FENN, ABC)

Venezuela descends into chaos. Its people, once the wealthiest in Latin America, starve. Even The New York Times runs headlines like Dying Infants and No Medicine.

My Venezuelan-born friend Kenny says his relatives are speaking differently. Cousins who once answered Fine or Good when asked, How are you? now say, Were eating.

Eating is a big deal in the country thats given birth to jokes about a Venezuelan diet. A survey by three universities found 75 percent of Venezuelans lost an average 19 pounds this year.

So are American celebrities who championed Venezuelas peoples revolution embarrassed? Will they admit they were wrong?

No, says linguist and political writer Noam Chomsky. I was right.

Sigh.

Actor Sean Penn met with Hugo Chavez several times and claimed Chavez did incredible things for the 80 percent of the people that are very poor.

Oliver Stone made a film that fawned over Chavez and Latin American socialism. Chavez joined Stone in Venice for the films premiere.

Michael Moore praised Chavez for eliminating 75 percent of extreme poverty.

Hello?! In Venezuela, Chavez and his successor, Nicolas Maduro, created extreme poverty.

Chomsky, whose anti-capitalist teachings have inspired millions of American college students, praised Chavezs sharp poverty reduction, probably the greatest in the Americas. Chavez returned the compliment by holding up Chomskys book during a speech at the U.N., making it a best-seller.

Is Chomsky embarrassed by that today? No, he wrote me. He praised Chavez in 2006. Heres the situation as of two years later. He linked to a 2008 article by a writer of Oliver Stones movie who said, Venezuela has seen a remarkable reduction in poverty.

I asked him, Should you now say to the students whove learned from you, Socialism, in practice, often wrecks peoples lives? Chomsky replied, I never described Chavezs state capitalist government as socialist or even hinted at such an absurdity. It was quite remote from socialism. Private capitalism remained Capitalists were free to undermine the economy in all sorts of ways, like massive export of capital.

What? Capitalists undermine the economy by fleeing?

I showed Chomskys email to Marian Tupy, editor of HumanProgress.org. I like his response: If lack of private capitalism I assume he means total abolition of private enterprise and most private property is his definition of socialism, then only North Korea and Kampuchea qualify.

Tupy also asks how Chomsky thinks capitalists sabotaged the economy by taking money out if capitalists are superfluous to a functioning economy.

Good questions. Chomskys arguments are absurd.

As Tupy wrote elsewhere about another socialist fool, As much as I would like to enjoy rubbing (his) nose in his own mind-bending stupidity, I cannot rejoice, for I know that Venezuelas descent into chaos hyperinflation, empty shops, out-of-control violence and the collapse of basic public services will not be the last time we hear of a collapsing socialist economy. More countries will refuse to learn from history and give socialism a go. Useful idiots, to use Lenins words will sing socialisms praises until the last light goes out.

I fear hes right. This love for state planning is especially outrageous today because anyone who pays attention knows what does work: market capitalism.

Socialism failed in Angola, Benin, Cambodia, China, Congo, Cuba, Ethiopia, Laos, Mongolia, Mozambique, North Korea, Poland, Somalia, the Soviet Union, Vietnam and now Venezuela. We are yet to experience the blessed event of seeing one socialist country succeed.

Yet during the same years, capitalism brought prosperity to Hong Kong, Singapore, New Zealand, most of Western Europe, and years ago, to a mostly poor and undeveloped country we now call America.

In 1973, when Chile abandoned its short-lived experiment with socialism and embraced capitalism, Chilean income was 36 percent that of Venezuela. Today, Chileans are 51 percent richer than Venezuelans. Chilean incomes rose by 228 percent. Venezuelans became 21 percent poorer.

Venezuela has greater oil reserves than Saudi Arabia. But because some people believe socialism is the answer to inequality, Venezuelans starve.

What should Venezuela do once the tyrant falls?

It should do what Dubai and Hong Kong did, and what America should do next with Guantanamo Bay and Puerto Rico: create prosperity zones. Ill explain in my next column.

You can contact John Stossel at info@creators.com.

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Socialism has starved Venezuela - Press & Sun-Bulletin

Out of approximately 50,000 total evening news stories on ABC, CBS and NBC combined in the last four years, just 25 have covered the ongoing crisisin socialist Venezuela, according to a Media Research Center study published Tuesday.

After Venezuelas former socialist president, Hugo Chvez, passed away in March 2013, the country has spiraled into economic disaster and civil chaos. So far in 2017, more than 50 Venezuelans have been killed during protests againstcurrent Venezuelan President Nicols Maduro and his socialist policies. Many Venezuelansare starving due toshortages of food and other essentials. The countrys inflation rate is set to surpass 700 percent and 25 percent of Venezuelans will be unemployed.

The few times they have managed to cover the widespread poverty, starvation, and government oppression they somehow find ways to do that without [saying]the word socialism.'

Yet the Big Three evening newscasts have tried to pretend this crisis does not exist, offering virtually no coverage as the situation has deteriorated over the past four years, MRC Research Analyst Mike Ciandella wrote.

The networks have also been reluctant to attach the socialist label to Venezuelas government, and have utterly failed to criticize liberal politicians and celebrities who have praised the Chvez and Maduro regimes, Ciandella added.

Indeed, out of the 50,000 total evening news stories on the three networks, just 25 covered Venezuela, and only seven mentioned socialism. In addition, NBC Nightly News only broadcast 13 stories spanning 16 minutes and 54 seconds, ABCs World News only covered 8minutes and 34 seconds over sevenstories, and CBS Evening News only offered 3 minutes and 11 seconds over five stories.

The network evening news programs seem allergic to reporting on the ongoing crisis in Venezuela, Ciandella told LifeZette in an email. Even worse, the few times they have managed to cover the widespread poverty, starvation and government oppression in that country, they somehow find ways to do that withoutmentioning the word socialism.'

Ciandella noted that the three networks aired no stories when Maduro took advantage of a countrywide power outage to stamp out as much opposition as he could in September 2013. When Maduro used the powers he gave himself to rule the country in a state of emergency that superseded the National Assemblys voice, the media networks were silent.

After the anti-socialists elected a majority to the National Assembly in December 2015 and Maduros loyalist Supreme Court decided to strip the Assembly of its power on May 18, the media yawned.

On occasion, one of the three major news networks will drop a rare mention of the word socialism in connection with the Venezuela crisis in its coverage. As MRC noted, one of those exceptions wascorrespondent Jacob Rascon on April 20s NBC Nightly News.

The Venezuelan economy has been in freefall for years protesters blamed President Nicolas Maduro and his socialist government, Rascon said.

CBS Evening News anchor Scott Pelley offered another exception on May 4, when he said, Running battles continue in Venezuelas capital. They broke out a month ago when the socialist president tried to grab more power. At least 37have been killed.

But all too often, the media turn a blind eye to the atrocities and tragedies that fester in Venezuela, along with the root causes underlyingthem.

"In fact, ABC's 'World News Tonight' hasn't mentioned the words 'socialism' or 'socialist' in connection with Venezuela even once since Chvez's death in 2013," Ciandella told LifeZette. "This is completely inexcusable. The networks seem intent on distancing the socialism of the Chvez and Maduro regimes with the idealistic socialism of Bernie Sanders and liberal academia."

The socialism that Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and many Hollywood celebrities champion appeals in theory to many U.S. college students and struggling young adults.

"I often say only half-jokingly to students on college campuses who are all in with Bernie Sanders that if they think socialism is such a wonderful economic model: How about a one-way ticket to Caracas?" Stephen Moore, an economic policy analyst and Distinguished Visiting Fellow at The Heritage Foundation, wrote of Venezuela's capitol in a Washington Times op-ed published May 21.

"You'd be a fool to go there today. Venezuela is a human-rights crisis of epic proportions, with mass hunger, mass poverty, despair, ghetto upon ghetto, and a mass exodus of private businesses and anyone with money," Moore added.

"The burgeoning resistance throws Molotov cocktails, rocks, and even human feces at the security forces during the nonstop rioting. 'I don't fear death because this life is crap,' one protester told the WSJ," Moore added. "It turns out that 'share the wealth' eventually means there is no wealth, and the egalitarian dream means everyone becomes equally poor. Venezuela is on its way to becoming the next North Korea."

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Media Yawn at Venezuela's Spiraling, Socialist Nightmare | LifeZette - LifeZette

Even 133 years after his death, the teachings of philosopher Karl Marx seem more relevant today than ever before. They've also gained in popularity. In a recent survey, 43% of young Americans under the age of 30 voiced favorable leanings to the notion of socialism. Is this a sign of a new anti-capitalism trend taking over in the United States? The new documentary titled How Capitalism is Killing Itself, produced by the acclaimed series The Empire Files, seeks to find answers.

The film dissects the tenants of Marx's economic principles, which were largely born out of a humanist philosophy. As recounted by Dr. Richard Wolf, the film's chief interview subject, Marxist economist and Professor Emeritus of Economics at University of Massachusetts - Amherst, the philosopher set out to uncover the root of social inequality, and identified a purely capitalistic system as its major culprit. In his view, capitalism could only thrive by imposing various social ills upon society such as impoverishment, inequality and exploitation. Therefore, the Marxist-led socialist movement is characterized by a need to redefine the very foundations of what he viewed as a deeply flawed and immoral system.

There are many indications that the long reign of capitalism may be on the ropes, especially when observed through the prism of this year's United States presidential election. Self-confirmed democratic socialist Bernie Sanders has proven enormously successful in spreading the gospel that Marx first preached well over a century ago. The youth, in particular, has flocked in support of Sander's candidacy and his message in record numbers. As members of this new generation eventually assume the mantle of leadership in their country, could their firmly held beliefs facilitate the end of capitalism as we know it?

How Capitalism is Killing Itself is a fast-paced and informative expose, but it makes no illusions to an even handed treatment of its subject; its agenda is implicit in its title. But even for the most fervent skeptics or the uninitiated, the film proves illuminating in its attempts to dispel much of the misgivings, fear and misinterpretations of the Marxist philosophy.

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How Capitalism is Killing Itself - Top Documentary Films

NewsBusters (blog)

Nets Ignore Ongoing Disaster in Venezuela; Downplay Role of Socialism NewsBusters (blog) Just this year alone, more than 50 people have been killed protesting the heartbreaking malpractice of Venezuela's socialist dictatorship. According to the IMF, inflation will surpass 700% this year, while unemployment will hit 25%; shortages of ... Goldman Sachs Gives Lifeline to Venezuela's Socialist DictatorNew York Magazine Media Ignores Ongoing Socialist Disaster Unfolding in VenezuelaThe New American 'It's Not Charity': Russia Questions Cuba's Ability to Pay for Russian Oil to Replace Venezuela'sBreitbart News Forbes -American Thinker (blog) -RollingStone.com all 268 news articles »

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Nets Ignore Ongoing Disaster in Venezuela; Downplay Role of Socialism - NewsBusters (blog)