Norwegian News Agency NTB reports that “two killed in US strike on suspected drug boat”. NTB now uses the qualifying terms “suspected” and “alleged” about the drug smugglers being taken out by the Americans. The news agency also, as a matter of course, mentions critics who describe it as “extrajudicial executions”.
The systematic use of negative characterisations is not news reporting. It is propaganda. This now applies to almost everything NTB covers that touches on the struggle between the political right and left. The right receives negative characterisations, without justification.
This leads to a loss of trust. But in order to wean people off this and teach them to demand objective news reporting, it is important to awaken them from passive reception.
When NTB writes that “the suspected smugglers are not given the opportunity to defend themselves against the accusations in a court of law”, it is directly laughable.
US forces state that they have struck a suspected smuggling vessel in the Pacific Ocean. Two people were killed.
The United States claims that the vessel was operated by an unnamed terrorist organisation.
The regional command Southcom describes the two dead as “male narco-terrorists”.
The strike forms part of a long series of similar operations that are part of the Trump administration’s offensive against alleged drug smugglers in Latin America. Since the targeted strikes against what the administration calls “narco-terrorists” began in September last year, at least 213 people have been killed.
Critics have described the strikes as extrajudicial executions and pointed out that the suspected smugglers are not given the opportunity to defend themselves against the accusations in a court of law. (NTB)
Behind the negative portrayal of the war on drugs lies a trivialisation of the power of the cartels.
The war on drugs is now an important driver in elections in Latin America and will become so in the West.
Powerful interests stand behind the cartels. They merge with big business.