The BBC’s website today carries a story headlined ‘Chavez says US plans to kill him’. The Beeb explicitly mentions that Mr. Chavez does not present any evidence to support this claim, but it does quote Fidel Castro as a character witness of sorts.

Well okay then.

The story is illustrated with an interesting pair of photos that remind me of an observation I made last month about the NBC Nightly News. The photos in this case are of Mr. Chavez and of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Both of them are file photos: Mr. Chavez is smiling — or maybe grimacing, or just squinting into the sun — and making some kind of expansive gesture with his hands. Ms. Rice is shown scowling in an extreme closeup.

Hola, amigos!


Luke, I am your father!

I know, I know, I’ve really blown the lid off this one: BBC Supports Communists, Thinks U.S. Is Source Of All Evil. I thought it was important to make a note of this, particularly in light of the complaint I made about the (much less ham-fisted) choice of pictures on the NBC Nightly News in January.