Wikipedia:WikiProject Venezuela/Reliable and unreliable sources

News reporting in Venezuela is contentious, with various sources being reported by people of differing political views to be biased, manipulative, or outright lying. By consensus across the Wikipedia community, state sources of Venezuela are unreliable. Independent sources operating in the country and in neighboring nations, several using citizen journalism, are seen as more reliable for Venezuela-specific reports.

Venezuela was listed in the 2015 Press Freedom Index as 137th out of 180 countries, and its position has worsened since, in 2021 Venezuela was listed as 148 out of 180. Various interpretations of laws including the Law on Social Responsibility on Radio and Television and the Law against Hatred have allowed for media outlets to be closed or banned for speaking against the government or similar actions said to be non-peaceful. For political censorship in 2019, see the article on Censorship and media control during the Venezuelan presidential crisis.

Beyond limited press freedom in Venezuela, sources may need to be more heavily vetted because of the conflicting government tensions. In an article on the United States, for example, different reliable sources with noticeable political opinions can still be relied upon to give the same news; using only one or the other to source that piece of news on Wikipedia is typically not an issue. Regarding Venezuela, the disputed President Nicolás Maduro has actually called out Wikipedia about the article on his opponent Juan Guaidó during a period of edit wars in January 2019, when Wikipedia was blocked in the country for over a week, over technicalities of constitution and presidency as debated by the Venezuelan media – the different reliable sources' political opinions had found a time to shine through because of the unique situation: 'facts' were unclear and 'truth' depended largely on partisanship.

By reliability

Generally reliable sources

Per a talkpage discussion and proposal within the WikiProject,¹ the following sources — with their associated advice — are seen as generally reliable for news regarding Venezuela, specifically news that is not available from mainstream Western media and press associations. The Venezuelan branches of Reuters, the AFP and the AP are also seen as reliable. The Venezuela WikiProject has not discussed reliability of other sources in relation to the topic.

Name	Description
Al Navío
Armando.Info	Investigative journalism in Venezuela cannot be beat by independent site Armando.info. Focuses on corruption investigations.
Crónica Uno
Efecto Cocuyo	Founded by independent female journalists who have all been threatened by the Bolivarian government, its director has won a press freedom award and was one of the "Guardians" profiled as TIME Person of the Year 2018. Furthermore, no area of the country or news story seems too small, meaning they likely have coverage of just about anything, with multiple updates daily and an easy-to-navigate site.
El Cooperante	Founded in 2009
El Estímulo	Outlet with a wide range of news coverage, but also articles regarding analyses, food, sex and opinion articles
El Nacional	Comprehensive in all areas, respected internationally. Since its online version, might be more useful currently as a news aggregator. In 2022 El Nacional republished an article from Breitbart ([6]), which is currently blacklisted from the English Wikipedia; its current fact checking process can be taken with a grain of salt.
El Nuevo Herald	Miami based newspaper that has good coverage of the diaspora in the area.
La Patilla	Its early years articles (starting from 2010) might be considered opiniated and pro-opposition, like Maduradas (see entry below), while over time it has become more impartial. It has been regularly censored by the government. La Patilla has republished content from Breitbart ([7][8][9], although the most recent one was retracted), which is currently blacklisted in the English Wikipedia. Care must be taken when information is attributed to other websites.
El Pitazo	It covers daily news but is more notable for its award-winning long form multimedia reports on the state of the nation; this is particularly good for statistics and analysis.
Miami Herald	English-language sibling of El Nuevo Herald.
Prodavinci	This is the "one-stop shop" for analytical journalism by politicians, historians, and various other professionals; it also has quite a strict attitude against opinion pieces.
Runrunes	Founded by investigative journalist Nelson Bocaranda, ever since it has published multiple investigations. Runrunes also started the Monitor de Víctimas project, whose goal is to document homicides in the country.
Tal Cual	Founded by journalist, former guerrilla and historical leftist Teodoro Petkoff.
VIVOplay	Like VPItv (see entry below), VIVOplay focuses on correspondents, on-site reporting and videos. It has extensive coverage on live news, although care should be taken with primary sources.
VPItv	A sidekick to the large rebel alliance, with the downside that as a largely video-based service (operating mostly on YouTube when it becomes inevitably blocked) it may not always be seen as reputable.

Additional considerations apply

Name	Extra information
Alberto News	Registered in Venezuela, gives world news and local Venezuelan stories. It covers topics like expected of any Western source: political news and things very far from political reporting. Can be opinionated and pro-opposition. It once published a news story claiming that 93 countries of the United Nations General Assembly voted in favor of the "humanitarian intervention" in Venezuela back in 2018. This news was false. It appears that the story was taken down, but it was on the website for almost a year before being corrected. While this seems to be an exception and not the rule, it is suggested to take the links from this site with a grain of salt.
Aporrea	Bolivarian government supportive but, in news (avoid the opinion pieces), it does not have the insert of opinion that other Maduro-supporting sources do, so is more reliable than those for plain information on Maduro-government-aligned people. Has had more editorial independence recently, so it shouldn't be completely ruled out of unbiased consideration. Care should also be taken for opinion pieces and user generated content. See also: RfC: Aporrea
Caraota Digital	Pro-opposition opinionated and yellow press.
Caracas Chronicles	Technically a blog, but run by respected journalists and often has interviews with people in the news, and it's all in English.
Center for Economic and Policy Research	Run by partisan members to Chávez and Maduro, its founder and director, Mark Weisbrot, is a noted supporter of Chávez. Not a news source, economic reports must be supported with secondary sources and use in-line attribution. See also: RfC
Cinco8	Caracas Chronicles' Spanish-language sister blog.
DolarToday	Relevant source for US dollar/bolívar conversion rates. For other news, it is pro-opposition opinionated and yellow press.
El Universal	It was a recognized newspaper for almost a century, however, under pressure from the Venezuelan regime, in 2014 it was sold and changed its editorial perspective. Since 2014, the slant often softens or avoids issues that harm the Venezuelan regime.
Maduradas	Pro-opposition opinionated and yellow press. Should not be used as main source.
Noticiero Digital	Arguably a good outlet as supportive reference and possibly has more value as a news aggregator than as an outlet, but apparently lacks editorial oversight and it's important to distinguish opinion pieces when using it
Últimas Noticias	It is currently generally unreliable for politics. Characterized by The Guardian in 2019 as a "pro-Maduro tabloid", it is privately owned by British financier Robert Hanson and is run with a partisan editorial slant which, since 2014, has resulted in some objectively false stories. It may be reliable for non-politics, particularly non-news, but also demonstrates Chavista nationalism and should be attributed in-line. Before Hanson's purchase, it was a leading non-partisan news source in Venezuela that covered protests and campaigned for press freedom; earlier articles are seen as reliable sources.
Voice of America & Voz de América	Voice of America is a broadcasting agency of the United States government. Note that there are two fields of coverage in Venezuela, one that is independently run, and the other which has its main presenter/host who also explores Madurismo perspectives. However, he's a good journalist and handles it neutrally, so this only needs to be given a question of bias (rather than avoiding).

Generally unreliable sources

Name	Extra information
Bolivarian Communication and Information System	The following sources are part of the Venezuelan state media conglomerate of the Bolivarian Communication and Information System attached to the Ministry of Communication and Information. As such, they lack editorial independence, are considered generally unreliable when reporting about Venezuelan topics and should not be used as main sources: Agencia Venezolana de Noticias Alba Ciudad 96.3 FM Alba TV Avila TV Ciudad Caracas Ciudad VLC Orinoco Tribune Radio of the South Telesur (see entry below) TVes Venezolana de Televisión ViVe YVKE Mundial Radio
El Chigüire Bipolar	Satirical news portal, similar to The Onion, and winner of the 2017 Václav Havel Prize for Creative Dissent. Should not be used as a reference of facts. Can be used as a primary source for itself, and a secondary source for public/popular reactions displayed in its work.
CoinDesk	From RfC 2: "there is near-unanimous consensus that CoinDesk is often undue and that mainstream sources should be preferred wherever possible", thus: "Coindesk should not be used for notability" and "it should generally be avoided as a source when possible". See also: RfC 1 and RfC 2
La Iguana	Pro-government opinionated
PanAm Post	Perennial sources: "There is consensus that the PanAm Post is generally unreliable for factual reporting. Most editors consider the publication biased or opinionated. Some editors note that the PanAm Post is used by other reliable sources and only believe that its opinion section should be avoided." RfC discussion.
Rebelion.org	Rebelion.org incorporates information published in other outlets (including those with user generated content, such as Aporrea), which means that it is not the original source of the information. For this reason, Rebelión was blacklisted in the Spanish Wikipedia in June 2008. Rebelión is also significantly biased, including in its coverage of Venezuela. As such, it is an unreliable source. See also: Magister Mathematicae/rebelión (Spanish briefing on the reasons of the blacklist in the Spanish Wikipedia) and Temas recurrentes#Inclusión de rebelion.org en la lista negra (FAQ regarding the blacklist)
Venezuelanalysis	Perennial sources: "generally unreliable for factual reporting" See also: Very long discussion, Discussion in reference to Chávez article 1 and Chávez discussion 2.
Venezuelan Ministry of Health	As a state source, the Venezuelan Ministry of Health should be avoided. Furthermore, it is specifically an unreliable and corrupt source, and should not be used. Its reports are often undated and unattributed, and often disappear. It did not report statistics between 2015 and 2017; in 2017, the health minister Antonieta Caporale published infant and maternal mortality rates, showing an alarming increase. She was immediately fired and the report retracted. In terms of Occupational safety and health, the Ministry's statistics "are not updated and are unreliable regarding occupational accidents and diseases." In 2017, UNICEF wrote that "the lack of timely, disaggregated and reliable official data about children limited the evidence of the impact of the crisis."

Blacklisted

The following sources are a selection of sources often publishing about Venezuela and which have been blacklisted through RfC's. The below sources may be used to cite their opinions as a primary source; if used they must be attributed in-line.

Name	Extra information
Con El Mazo Dando	Talk show of Diosdado Cabello, Vice President of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela. As such, it lacks editorial independence, is considered generally unreliable when reporting about Venezuelan and should not be used as a main source. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) has expressed concerns about how the program has intimidated people that went to the IACHR denouncing the government, and Amnesty International has denounced the way in which Cabello routinely shows state monitoring of people that may disagree with the government. Some Venezuelan commentators have compared the use of illegally recorded private conversations on programs such as Cabello's to the practices in place in the East Germany.
CounterPunch	Deprecated sources: "clear consensus to deprecate CounterPunch.Multiple examples were provided of misleading, fringe, or downright false statements published on the site. Many users agreed that the site itself leans towards favoring fringe viewpoints, and publishes such viewpoints preferentially, not indiscriminately."
The Grayzone	Deprecated sources: "consensus that The Grayzone publishes false or fabricated information. Some editors describe The Grayzone as Max Blumenthal's blog, and question the website's editorial oversight."
HispanTV	Deprecated sources: "overwhelming consensus that HispanTV is both generally unreliable and that sometimes it even publishes outright fabrications"
Lechuguinos	Pro-government opinionated and yellow press. Lechuguinos has also been shown reporting misleading or false information in cooperation with unreliable and state outlets.
MintPress News	Deprecated sources: "consensus that the site publishes false or fabricated information."
RT	Deprecated sources: "RT is generally unreliable for topics that are controversial or related to international politics." In addition, the impact of bias from RT in relation to Venezuela topics in particular means that it should not be used; if the information is legitimate, more reliable sources will have published it.
Sputnik	Deprecated sources: "There is clear consensus that Sputnik News is generally unreliable. Sputnik is considered a Russian propaganda outlet that engages in bias and disinformation." In addition, the impact of bias from Sputnik in relation to Venezuela topics in particular means that it should not be used; if the information is legitimate, more reliable sources will have published it.
TeleSur	Deprecated sources: "consensus exists to deprecate Telesur as a source" See also: Citing gov't claims from TeleSur and TeleSur English deprecated.
Venezuela News	Disinformation website that started operating around late 2021. The outlet's vicepresident is Lenin Dávila, who has also been the director of Lechuguinos.

By type

Academic sources

Name	Scope/Additional information
Diccionario de Historia de Venezuela (Empresas Polar)	It is considered generally reliable for historical figures and events.
VenezuelaTuya	It is a popular outlet that provides encyclopedic-like articles on Venezuelan history, geography and culture. Articles sometimes include references. Information taken from this page has to be used with precaution. VenezuelaTuya never includes the date or author of its articles. VenezuelaTuya also works as a travel agency. Some of its content are violations of other sources copyrights, namely the Empresas Polar History Dictionary.

Civil society

Name	Scope/Additional information
Acceso a la Justicia (English: Justice Access)	Venezuelan NGO focused on monitoring judicial independence and rule of law in the country. See also: About page (in Spanish)
Acción Solidaria	Venezuelan NGO seeking to combat the spread of HIV in Venezuela and other Spanish speaking countries. See also: About page (in Spanish)
CEPAZ (Spanish: Centro de Justicia y Paz - English: Peace and Justice Center)	Venezuelan human rights NGO See also: About page (in Spanish)
Espacio Público (English: Public Space)	Venezuelan NGO focused human rights promotion and defense, specifically of freedom of expression, right of information and the social responsibility of media outlets. See also: About page (in Spanish)
Foro Penal (English: Penal Forum)	Venezuelan NGO that provides pro bono legal assistance and documents violations of due process, arbitrary arrests and mistreatment during detention. The organization periodically publishes the current number of political prisoners in Venezuela. Its director, Alfredo Romero, was awarded the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award in 2017, and its vice-director, Gonzalo Himiob, was awarded the Civil Courage Prize in 2019. See also: Brief discussion on Venezuelan NGOs
IPYS (Spanish: Instituto Prensa y Sociedad Venezuela - English: Venezuelan Press and Society Institute)	Venezuelan NGO focused promotion of freedom of expression, investigation journalism and information rights. See also: About page (in Spanish)
PROVEA (Spanish: Programa Venezolano de Educación Acción en Derechos Humanos - English: Venezuelan Human Rights Action Education Program)	Venezuelan human rights NGO. Founded in 1988, shortly before Massacre of El Amparo, committed during the presidency of Jaime Lusinchi. Provea later help to present the case in the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. The organization was awarded the John Humphrey Freedom Award in 2010 and nowadays it continues to document and denounce human rights violations in the country. See also: About page, Press release of the 30th anniversary of El Amparo massacre (in Spanish)
RedUni	Venezuelan NGO focused on the promotion and defense of human rights of the university community. See also: About page (in Spanish)
Transparencia Venezuela	Venezuelan NGO focued in government transparency and corruption. Has good profiles of the members of the National Assembly. See also: About page (in Spanish)
Sin Mordaza (English: No Gags)	Venezuelan human rights NGO. See also: About page (in Spanish)
Una Ventana a la Libertad (English: One Window to Freedom)	Venezuelan NGO focused on documenting and denouncing penitentiary conditions and detainees human rights See also: About page (in Spanish)

Fact-checkers

Name	Scope/Additional information
Cazadores de Fake News	Fact-checker that monitors WhatsApp and social media hoaxes related to Venezuela that relies on crowdsourcing. See also: Main Page in English
Cocuyo Chequea	Fact-checking section of Efecto Cocuyo (see entry above). See also: Category (in Spanish)
Cotejo Info	Fact-checker started on 2016. See also: About page (in Spanish)
Es Paja	Fact-checker created by Transparencia Venezuela with support of the European Union See also: Fact-checking method (in Spanish)
Observatorio Venezolano de Fake News	See also: About page (in Spanish)
Verifikado	Fact-checker active between 2018 and 2020. Currently inactive, though its articles can still be browsed through its Twitter page (@veri_fikado) and can be accessed through the Web Archive. For fact checking after 2020, see other entries of the section. See also: Wikipedia:Reliable_sources/Noticeboard/Archive_283#RfC:_Center_for_Economic_and_Policy_Research_(CEPR) (related RSN discussion)

See also

• Censorship in Venezuela
• Wikipedia:Reliable sources/Perennial sources