2025: The Western Media’s One-Sided View of Nobel Peace Prize Winner, Maria Machado 

On October 10, 2025, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Maria Machado “leader of the democracy movement in Venezuela.” The Nobel Committee justified the award on the basis of Machado’s “tireless work promoting democratic rights” and “her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy.”

FAIR (Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting) is a national progressive media watchdog group. FAIR released an article summarizing the Western media’s coverage of Maria Machado and the Nobel Prize [1]:

“Rather than scrutinize the opposition politician’s credentials, the media establishment seized the opportunity to whitewash the most unpeaceful elements in her background.”

“The Nobel Prize meant corporate outlets had to give their readers an idea of Machado’s political trajectory. And though some had profile pieces, there was a concerted effort to conceal the most unsavory elements. The Financial Times euphemistically stated that Machado “entered politics in opposition to Hugo Chavez”-President of Venezuela from 1999 through 2013- while the Guardian summed up that she has been “involved in politics for more than two decades.”

“No establishment outlet mentioned Machado’s first relevant political action: supporting the short-lived April 2002 coup against the Chavez government, and signing the infamous ‘Carmona Decree.’ In one fell swoop, this decree did away with all democratically elected institutions, annulled the 1999 Constitution, and established a de facto dictatorship.”

“Establishment journalists started the story with the mid-2002 creation of Sumate, calling it an NGO dedicated to election monitoring or transparency. Yet they did not mention that this alleged quest to safeguard democracy was funded by the US, or that the opposition made unfounded fraud claims after failing to unseat Chavez in a 2004 recall referendum.”

“……the opposition politician led the 2014 “La Salida” (“The Exit”) campaign of street violence to overthrow the Nicolas Maduro administration, leaving dozens dead. Yet instead of scrutinizing the new laureate’s less-than-peaceful actions, corporate outlets chose to ignore or misrepresent them as ‘denouncing the regime’s abuses,’ ‘participating in anti-regime protests,’ or ‘allegations that she’d tried to foment a coup.” Only the Associated Press offered a minimal concession that the Machado-led ‘anti-government protests… at times turned violent.”

“Another key aspect of the opposition operator’s political career has been outspoken advocacy for US sanctions, which have caused economic devastation and led to tens of thousands of deaths. But Western media ignored Machado’s lobbying for collective punishment of the Venezuelan people – with the New York Times a notable exception.”  

     

1.Vaz, Ricardo, Western Media Use ‘Peace’ Prize to Fuel War Propaganda, FAIR, October 23, 2025.

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