And most of the most interesting quotes actually came from journalists who had left the profession or had left at least Venezuela. And they were much more willing to talk openly about the structural pressures they faced, the editorial lines that were passed down, the group think that happens when you are in an office where everybody thinks you are living in a dictatorship. If you just come in to work and everybody thinks one way, it is very hard to go against that and publish something that is completely different. So you end up thinking that you are going crazy. And so a lot of journalists who are more sympathetic to the government told me that they self-censored and they just wrote what they knew their editors wanted, just to get on with life. They didn't want to have a constant struggle all the time. But most of the people who do write about Venezuela are true believers. They believe that they are doing their duty to present it like this.
*
Slava Zilber is the host of the political podcast "Conversations with Slava" and a guest contributor to The Canary.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
2
2
1
