ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on the key concepts discussed in the preceding chapters of this book. The book shows how most newspapers repeated the highly dubious opposition allegation that Hugo Chavez personally ordered snipers to mow down his own supporters during the 2002 coup as an established, uncontested fact which therefore "justified" every criticism of him, and, presumably, his overthrow. It also shows how the media claimed social indicators had fallen under Chavez, in complete contrast to the empirical data. The media are well aware of the data, as they often cherry-picked parts of the surveys to present a different picture of the country. Thus, the press can be said to have produced bad news from Venezuela in another sense: fake news, biased, without balance and an absence of a facts-based approach. How the media treat alternative models of society like Venezuela is key in influencing how the public understand their own society and alternatives to the status quo.
