Dear ABC editors,
In 1886, the Scottish writer Robert Louis Stevenson published a novel titled “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.” The novel explores the duality of Dr. Jekyll’s personality—one kind and the other evil, represented by Mr. Hyde. While Jekyll is depicted as a friendly and educated man, Hyde is his complete opposite: cruel, ruthless, and amoral… The book was so successful that the terms Jekyll and Hyde have entered popular culture as synonyms for psychiatric disorders (multiple personality disorder). I bring this up because I believe it perfectly describes what has recently transpired at ABC newspaper in Spain.
A quick Google search (venezuela site:abc.es) reveals the editorial stance of ABC. Among the results, we find articles like “Maduro Attacks ABC for Telling the Truth About Venezuela,” where the paper headlines with “The Venezuelan president claims that this newspaper is ‘the only Nazi newspaper still surviving in the world.'” It adds:
This isn’t the first time Maduro has publicly targeted ABC. Earlier this year, during Chávez’s illness, he denied this newspaper’s reporting, the only outlet that reported the true nature of the former president’s illness: terminal cancer. In a televised speech, he claimed they were facing “a truly miserable media war about the president’s life and health” and asserted it was “mortuary journalism.” “ABC represents the most extreme right; a newspaper founded during the dictatorship that has defended that terrible regime,” he stated in January 2013. This is a serious historical error because, as everyone knows, ABC was founded in 1903 and firmly distanced itself from that dictatorship, even suffering the seizure of its July 21, 1966 edition over an article supporting the return of the Monarchy.
The editorial line of ABC, let’s call it Dr. Jekyll, has sparked many reactions like those described above. For chavismo, anything that isn’t tabloid news praising the “Bolivarian revolution” is an attack from the “media scum.” ABC is the only publication in Spain that has touched upon the Derwick Associates’ bolichicos issue. In an article titled “Margarita Vargas’s Brother-in-law Accused of Chavista Corruption,” ABC’s correspondent in Caracas, Ludmila Vinogradoff, reports on the emerging and powerful group known as bolichicos:
Imagine, dear editors, my surprise when I see Derwick Associates promoting “an interview” with its director, Alejandro Betancourt, published by ABC, starting with the legendary phrase “Venezuela has a lot of potential if you understand it.” It’s evident that Mr. Betancourt “understands” Venezuela, as he transitioned from being unemployed with no experience to possibly becoming the largest contractor in the electricity sector in Venezuela, securing multi-billion-dollar contracts without bidding. Betancourt “understands,” there’s no doubt. He “understands” so well that he and his partners have been indicted in the U.S. for conspiracy, bribing high-ranking chavista officials, and other aspects that characterize the normal development of their “understanding.”
But who can understand ABC? The interview with Betancourt, penned by L.P.A (Luis Pedro Arechederra), resembles a press release drafted by Derwick Associates. It reminds me of another piece published by Hilary Kramer in Forbes, which was later pulled due to its lack of substance. There seems to be no questioning whatsoever. It appears that Arechederra didn’t bother to check his own newspaper’s archives for the interview preparation. If he did, he chose not to ask Betancourt a single uncomfortable question. Given that the topic was Venezuela and a company under scrutiny, did Arechederra consult with Vinogradoff? Did he not think to ask Betancourt how his shell company secured 12 contracts in 14 months? Without bidding? He didn’t mention the allegations and lawsuits against Derwick Associates and its executives? He didn’t inquire about the attacks on the press and journalists ordered by Betancourt, nor about the multiple letters from Betancourt’s lawyers threatening legal action against bloggers. None of this seemed to interest Arechederra. It wasn’t Dr. Jekyll interviewing Betancourt; it was Mr. Hyde.
Is this the new palangre journalism that we should expect from ABC?
The entry Open Letter to @abc_es first appeared in El Faro del Morro.