TeleSUR English: Evidence of Anti-Semitism

A visitor to TeleSUR’s website can quickly see Israel holds a special place in TeleSUR’s news coverage. Despite the rest of the countries following an alphabetical organization, Israel is the first country listed.

While this could be just an instance of poor design which that made its past the eyes of everyone involved in the construction and user testing of its website – this isn’t the case.

As you’ll learn after reading the below, this little aesthetic glitch is anything but a mistake. It’s a not so sly code, which will be illustrated in detail below, that TeleSUR is a media company oriented towards helping Venezuela’s PSUV achieve the political goals stated in their Plan de Patria related to Israel rather than applying professional journalism standards.

What does this mean for their brand? Well, when it comes to international news reporting, truth-telling takes a back seat to the desire to delegitimize America by working to malign by any means necessary its ally Israel.

The official news organization along with its media partners – a mix of private and state media companies as well as contractors – collaborate on projects that go far beyond anything that could be called principled anti-Zionism. Instead, TeleSUR consistently publishes in a false light; while their partners share a variety of anti-Semitic conspiracy theories on Facebook and the web.

TeleSUR Reports Fake News of Child Abduction

In 2010 the Anti-Defamation League published Anti-Semitism in Venezuela: In the Wake of the Gaza Flotilla which contained extensive documentation of anti-Semitic views being expressed in various media outlets and by various members of the Venezuela government – including false accusations that Israeli doctors had stolen human organs from Haitians affected by the 2010 earthquake.

Nicolas Maduro, the president of TeleSUR, was cited as describing a situation wherein any potential attack could be ascribed to Mossad – “a conspiracy theory similar to one typically used by anti-Semites who claim Jews and Israel were behind terrorist attacks such as the 1994 AMIA attack in Buenos Aires or 9/11.”

While the whole publication is worth reading – especially for the connections it draws between Venezuela and their state news media’s coverage of international affairs – this article focuses solely on the past five years. Between 2010 and 2015 the Venezuelan state and its media apparatus, TeleSUR, learned to be overt about it’s anti-Zionism and use covert means to spread anti-Semitism in order to achieve political goals.

In May of 2015, for instance, TeleSUR and their partner HispanTV, the Iranian’s Spanish-language news service, were both sharply criticized by the Wiesenthal Center and the International Center for Countering Anti-Semitism after both of them falsely reported that “Israel used humanitarian aid to Nepal in order to disguise the smuggling of 25 infants.”

The article, which is still hosted on TeleSUR’s website, cites unidentified non-governmental organizations and falsely claims that these 25 infants were whisked away by the Israeli adoption agency Tammuz. Adding an extra element sure to inflame people with conservative and traditional religious belief, they also note that “the Tammuz clients include a number of homosexuals”.

Sergio Widder, head of the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Latin America Desk, stated on record that “HispanTV and Telesur Channels are behaving as the successors of the Nazi propaganda newspaper Der Stürmer. The editor of Der Stürmer, Julius Streicher, would have been certainly proud of such a dark and vile legacy.”

Worth noting is that this isn’t the first time that these news sources fabricated news of an anti-Semitic nature.

TeleSUR and Holocaust Denial Light™

In 2017 TeleSUR again published two articles of anti-Semitic Light™ content in Spanish, this time to commemorate International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Apparently having learned from the backlash received the first time around they didn’t publish outright fabrications, but instead chose to present the Holocaust in a false light.

One doesn’t need to be a subject area specialist in order to understand ASININE such a comparison is. Let’s look solely at the images above.

Using the number according to TeleSUR’s own reporting 10,000 divided by 7,000,000 = .001428571429 or .015%.

Are the Jews actively seeking to take over other land in their surrounding area – like Germany did with Lebensraum? No?

This is in a way like saying the Liberals are Socialists.

I make a point of going into the math here not to make the case that Palestinians have such a quantitatively far smaller life debt that comparing the Israel state is just fundamentally unsound comparative political analysis. But as it provides a means for applying pressure counter-point to TeleSUR’s reporting on their partner, Russia.

10,000 Palestinians killed, is roughly the same number of people that died fighting in the Russian invasion of the Donbass region. Given the timeline for this violence compared to the decades of Israel’s border consolidation, wouldn’t that then make Russia, using the same logic exhibited by this narrative, SuperNazis?

While the first article equated the Israeli government with that of Nazi Germany; the other informs about five other mass killing events that were “less known about than the Holocaust”. This unto itself isn’t problematic, but the framing within the text is. Specifically, by intimating that Jewish people are evil for having taken steps to ensure their collective survival by forming a state misrepresents the will of those other groups.

No TeleSUR reporter asked any high ranking member of political or cultural leaders from the groups that they named in the article if they wished they had a state organization and military capacity to ensure something like what happened before never did again.

And yet look to the news and you will see the groups mentioned therein working towards exactly that.

But does TeleSUR report this? No. Instead they publish stories in a false light using yet another false analogy. This time the narrative is “Jews have become Nazis”.

The Pattern of Misrepresenting History Matches PSUV’s Plan de Patria

What’s missing from TeleSUR’s coverage regarding similar conflicts as that which occur within Israel is as telling as what is there.

There’s no similar coverage of conflicts which have far higher casualty counts in the Philippines, India, Java, etc. The indigenous dispossession engaged in by TeleSUR’s current and former media partners – Ecuador, Nicaragua, and Peru etc. – so that those government-supported resource extraction; intensive agriculture; and transportation infrastructure development projects can proceed – isn’t something that’s discussed. Given TeleSUR’s claim that they represent and speak for “The South”, this is quite puzzling.

When one considers that this is because such coverage aligns with the PSUV’s Plan de Patria, however, it makes sense. Venezuela abstains from truth-telling about what’s going on in their partner countries so as to stay on the “good side” of the politicians there.

While Nicolas Maduro, the Ministry of Popular Power and Information and Patricia Villegas – TeleSUR’s executive core – officially only promote crude anti-Zionism, their “off-brand” media partners produce and share media conspiratorial anti-Semitic content. The insulation that they believed to have from such content is, however, easy to take apart following some investigation.

Cynthia McKinney’s Anti-Jewish Conspiracy Theories

Former Georgia Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney ran for president on the Green Party ticket in 2008. Her campaign imploded and political career fell apart, however, after her father expressed a number of anti-Semitic views. Following her fall from grace she reinvented herself as a journalist. She blogged for TeleSUR, gave interviews to RT, wrote a series of books based upon her experience in war zones, and obtained a doctorate of Philosophy in Leadership and Change from Antioch University.

Her Ph.D. thesis, titled “El No Murio, El Se Multiplico!” Hugo Chávez: The Leadership and the Legacy on Race”, a stylistically appalling but at times insightful reflection on issues related to race, leadership and statecraft. Less worthy are Cynthia McKinney’s Tweets related to such issues.

The first screenshot about ZioCon’s – which I presume means either Zionist Conservative or Zionist NeoConservative – represents a misinterpretation of the relationship between marketing and production companies and consumer. Seemingly a variation of the Cultural Marxism conspiracy, it suggests that there is a vast conspiracy by American Jews seek to destroy the black community through music.

Cynthia McKinney’s re-Tweet about Ethiopian Jews stem from Lizard-People-Rule-the-World conspiracy theorist David Icke. Like Janus, there’s two faces to what the Tweet claims.

The first claim is that Ethiopian Jews – aka Beta Israel – are “the Real Jews” and that those the settled in Israel and those who live in the Diaspora aren’t.

The Invention of Ethiopian Jews by Steven Kaplan is published in a peer-reviewed academic journal and shows how this claim is incorrect. After extensively documented primary research and numerous interviews with members of the Ethiopian Jewish community, he comes to the conclusion that:

“Both the Beta Israel’s oral traditions and the testimony of their literature offer strong evidence that crucial components of their religions system developed no earlier than the fourteenth of fifteenth century. Beta Israel accounts of their history trace virtually all major elements of their religion to the influence of the originally Christian monks, Abba Sabra and Sagga Amlak.”

A list of websites too long too name states otherwise.

The second face of the claim is that the “fake Jews” are actually part of a giant, murderous, secret criminal empire which practices worships the Devil and practices their black magic order to gain power and profit.

I haven’t reviewed every article writing about it online, but all that I did either were anonymous; the author listed on it didn’t appear to exist anywhere else; had no sources; or sources that were easily shown to be fake following a Google search.

To give an idea of the sophistication of such views I’ll share an excerpt. Following a history that lays, basically, every mass tragedy in European and American history at the feet of the “fake Jew” Khazarians, of which the Rothschild Family is one “tentacle,” this group takes over America from behind the scenes. Following this they then start to practice their “social manipulations”:

“The Rothschild Khazarian Mafia decided to gain complete control over all public education by setting up the Department of Education and creating globalist and socialist curriculums based on political correctness, diversity and “perversion is normal” teachings. Fluoride is added to the public water and toothpaste, and dentists are mind-kontrolled to believe that fluoride prevents cavities, and is not harmful to brain function or thyroid function, which it is.

The addition of fluoride to the public water supply and to toothpaste is to dumb-down Americans by on average lowering the operational IQ and making folks much more docile than they would normally be. Programs to develop and deploy vaccinations to dumb-down children and create huge numbers of future chronic health problems were initiated. Doctors have been mind-kontrolled and misled by biased research that was cherry-picked, ignoring any studies that were negative — and that included most of them. All vaccine cell lines are contaminated with SV- 40, a known carcinogenic slow-acting virus.”

The Khazarian Mafia conspiracy theory is largely a remix of claims made previously by the John Birch Society, however it also samples from others. According to this conspiracy theory, the Khazarians “continue their Satanic child blood and sacrifice rituals, and trust Baal to give them the whole world and all its riches, as they claimed he had promised them, as long as they kept bleeding out and sacrificing children and infants for him.”

This is what’s referred to as the Blood Libel – or the idea that Jews sacrifice Christian children as part of their religious ceremonies – and it’s a claim that has long been connected to pogroms that lead to the dispossession and death of Jewish people.

Following TeleSUR’s Unpublishing; Anti-Semitic blogs Signal Boost About It

TeleSUR’s brief unpublishing caused a flurry of reports decrying censorship by the news channels of TeleSUR’s media partners. The comments sections of Sputnik and RT, as I documented elsewhere, were filled with more conspiracy theories about the motives behind it.

These, however, were not the only outlets that sought to draw attention to TeleSUR. Several anti-Semitic blogs also started to publish content filled with outrage that such an event would happen. The websites are typical examples of the sort of fake backlinking networks, as I documeted elsewhere, that TeleSUR, RT, Sputnik, WSWS, RealNewsNetwork and MintPressNews, use. Drawing connections between them and TeleSUR beyond this would require more investigation.

TeleSUR Content Hosted by Anti-Semites on The Pirate Bay

While investigating for this article, I thought I decided to do some unconventional reporting and decided to see if TeleSUR had any content on The Pirate Bay. Sure enough they did!

One of the people seeding TeleSUR content is Joseph Blauman, aka joeblowman, the host of the The Joe Blow Conspiracy Show. Given the date that he uploaded the TeleSUR interview of Noam Chomsky and the rest of his digital footprint it’s unlikely that he’s connected with the organization.

The other account, roflcopter2110, also has a large number of anti-Semitic documentaries and is harder to determine.

To be clear I have no evidence that TeleSUR operates this accounts to spread anti-Semitism – but there is clearly a connection between those who tend to believe that the earth is flat, that vaccinations are bad, that fluoride in water destroys your precious bodily essence, and that Jewish people actually worship the devil and sacrifice babies and those that have an affinity for TeleSUR.

Anti-Semitism Spread on Leftist Facebook Groups

On Facebook there’s so much Anti-Semitism-In-the-Name-of-INternational-Extremism content isn’t not just ridiculous it’s ASININE. The bread of the photo sandwich above gives just a small hint at the amount of Rothschild conspiracy content that gets shared online in photos and posts.

Accounts with photos of Che with names in different alphabets – a simple way to determine which Facebook accounts are part of Venezuela’s coordinated inauthentic behavior network – repeat the same sort of nonsense the Cynthia McKinney does along with narratives of far greater absurdity.

What – you ask – could be more absurd then a make believe international criminal conspiracy like the Khazarians? One of the far-out-there claims I’ve seen posted in such groups as the ones shown above states that Osama Bin-Laden was both a Mossad agent AND a Jew and that he is still secretly alive and well and occasionally socializes with Bill and Hillary Clinton.

While the title of the Facebook group in the center of the photo is cut off, it’s full title is NUEVO GRUPO CON MADURO. As in Nicolas Maduro. Notable is that the person sharing this image within a Spanish language group has an Arabic name.

Showing that the point of this coordinated inauthentic behavior network is simply to spread disinformation, misinformation and thereby increase political polarization is evident in the fact that a website like rightoftheright.com would be posted in a group called ALL COMMUNISTS.

Anti-Semitic Sock Puppet Harassment on Facebook

After I saw one the accounts I identified as connected to TeleSUR’s Coordinated, Inauthentic Behavior Network post an article that denied that the Nazis burned ever destroyed the Torah I wrote a reply to their post stating that it was fake news and linked to a credible source which showed this. As is evident by the screenshot of my Facebook notifications in the center of the above picture, this did not please the operator of the sock puppet account.

He proceeded to tell me that he could tell I was Jewish by my nose and by my name – which I am, though I never heard people tell me that I have a “Jewish nose”.

After I posted a comment about how amused I was that even in the face of peer-reviewed scholarship and primary documents that showed he was spreading fake news, he then tagged me in a Facebook story and four posts which had images or text that were textbook antisemitism. I included the one about Kevin Bacon movies as while the “Jews Killed Jesus” comment is poor taste – especially in the context of a vast coordinated inauthentic behavior network promoting anti-Semitic anti-Capitalism – the meme by itself is funny.

And really, after doing this research and discovering that there’s a large scale, well-funded ongoing online campaign to spread the same sort of lies that lead to much of my family being killed in concentration camps in Ukraine a laugh is just what’s needed to help me from falling into a crushing sense of hopelessness about humankind’s ability to learn from the past by refraining from spreading bald-faced lies for political purposes no matter how just they think their cause is.

Sources

Steven Kaplan, The Invention of Ethiopian Jews : Three Models.

Preston James, Ph.D -The Hidden History of the Incredibly Evil Khazarian Mafia (Updated)

Anti-Defamation League: Anti-Semitism in Venezuela IN THE WAKE OF THE GAZA FLOTILLA

Dinero por Preguntas Respondidas Sobre TeleSUR, el Ministerio del Poder Popular para Comunicación e Información, el Ministerio Público, y la Contraloría General de la República

Periodista Independente y Estratega de Medios Necesita Ayuda

Saludos Ciudadanos de Venezuela,

Mi nombre es Ariel Sheen. Soy un ciudadano y trabajador mundial que necesita ayuda para obtener información por dos causas. Si me puede dar información sobre esto, por favor envíeme un correo electrónico.

Tengo alguna evidencia de incompetencia y corrupción a nivel ejecutivo de TeleSUR, pero no estoy seguro de cómo obtener más antes de enviar un informe completo a su gobierno.
Estoy tratando de conseguir un trabajo en TeleSUR en inglés que me permita solucionar algunos de estos problemas, pero no puedo encontrar las personas adecuadas para hablar.

Si puede ayudarme a encontrar los contactos adecuados para que pueda presentar mi informe de incompetencia grave en TeleSUR y obtener el puesto de TeleSUR en inglés, le enviaré dinero para que lo ayude.

Especificaré mis solicitudes ahora, y luego explicaré sobre mis esfuerzos para completar estas dos tareas, ya que las preguntas que necesito que me respondan y la forma en que estoy tratando de obtenerlas me sorprenderán.

Ayudándome a Reportar la Corrupción en TeleSUR English

Por los artes. 28 y 143 CRBV o 10 de la Ley Contra la Corrupción Sé que puedo solicitar información sobre empresas públicas.

Solicité información al Ministerio del Poder Popular para la Comunicación e Información sobre TeleSUR y solicité información a Helga Malve, directora de TeleSUR Communications. Ninguno me ha respondido.

¿A quién debo contactar para obtener información relacionada con el presupuesto de TeleSUR y los documentos de informes internos?

¿Quién puede proporcionarme asistencia legal para ayudarme a formular cargos específicos contra ejecutivos de TeleSUR una vez que los haya revisado y haya encontrado problemas adicionales a los que ya descubrí?

Aunque Orlando Pérez, actual subdirector de TeleSUR, una vez se jactó de su éxito como Director de El Telégrafo en Aporrea en 2012, en 2017 se dijo que era responsable de millones de dólares en desperdicios.

Actualmente puedo demostrar que él y Patricia Villegas están desperdiciando dinero de nuevo, pero solo una parte de lo que imagino que han desperdiciado. Quiero hacer un informe exhaustivo y quiero asegurarme de citar las estatuas y los artículos correctos antes de presentar mi denuncia oficial ante el Ministerio Público, la Contraloría General de la República y Transparencia Venezuela.

Si me puede dar información sobre esto, por favor envíeme un correo electrónico.

Ayudándome a Obtener Empleo

Soy en parte responsable de que el Director más reciente de TeleSUR English deje su trabajo. Él escribe que se dio por vencido, pero la realidad de que fue despedido es tan transparente como su piel.

¿Cuáles son los nombres de las personas en el Ministerio que Patricia Villegas informa sobre TeleSUR en Caracas?

¿Cuál es su información de contacto?

¿Cuáles son las reglas y regulaciones bajo las cuales operan?

He entrevistado a muchos empleados actuales y antiguos de TeleSUR en inglés de todos los niveles, y cada uno de ellos indica que la estrategia de TeleSUR English se dirige desde Caracas.

También me han informado que los medios de Caracas para determinar lo que se informa no son una estrategia consultiva ni basada en datos, sino que proviene de sus evaluaciones intuitivas.

Los bajos números de lectores de TeleSUR en inglés muestran que estas personas no entienden a la audiencia que esperan. Necesito hacerles llegar el mensaje que tengo y puedo ayudarlos a hacer que TeleSUR English sea un éxito si se lo nombra Director.

Si me puede dar información sobre esto, por favor envíeme un correo electrónico.

Justificación de las Acciones

Reportando Corrupción en TeleSUR

La corrupción del gobierno de salida en cualquier forma es un deber público.

Sin lugar a dudas, tengo evidencia de malversación (art. 56) por parte de la dirección ejecutiva de TeleSUR. Su sitio web es y ha sido un desastre durante años. Sin embargo, no estoy 100% seguro de quiénes eran las partes involucradas y no podré contarlas hasta que pueda hacer una revisión más informada de los documentos internos.

Basado en la estrategia de TeleSUR, creo firmemente que el ocultamiento, inutilización, retencion, alteración o destrucción de libros o documentos (Art. 78) también ha ocurrido, pero no lo sabrá con certeza una vez que esto se aclare para mí en términos legales y tengo la documentación adecuada.

He solicitado que Helga Malve me brinde la información prometida por Patricia Villegas relacionada con Cuidadano TeleSUR, la campaña de apoyo público fallida para la organización. Ella no me ha dicho cuánto dinero se recaudó ni cuáles son los éxitos de los que Patricia Villegas habla en este video promocional.

Como escribí con más detalle aquí, el ahora ex Director de Inglés de TeleSUR, Pablo Vivanco, pagó por falsas reacciones en las redes sociales; Luego mintió acerca de la causa de su cuenta de Facebook que se redujo a dos de sus asociados de larga data que luego informaron sobre esto. Quiero saber, ¿TeleSUR les pagó a estos hombres para que comentaran sobre un informe falso? Si es así, esto podría caer bajo pagos fraudulentos (80.2) ya que nunca se produjo la propagación viral esperada de esta historia o abuso de funciones (artículo 67), porque los “reporteros” utilizados eran amigos de Pablo Vivanco.

Los próximos dos actos están relacionados, y no estoy seguro de cuál es el código de delito adecuado, así que los agrupo:

He obtenido numerosos informes de contratistas de TeleSUR por falta de pago o por un pago muy atrasado. Me gustaría ver los registros de pago para determinar si esto es quizás parte de un esfuerzo de aquellos que no quieren que la misión de TeleSUR tenga éxito al alienar a los trabajadores que de otro modo ayudarían a la misión de TeleSUR.

He solicitado numerosos informes de los empleados de TeleSUR en cuanto a una tasa de rotación muy alta, me gustaría ver los datos de recursos humanos para determinar si realmente es cierto y, de ser así, tratar de averiguar si esto es quizás parte de un esfuerzo de aquellos que no quieren que la misión de TeleSUR sea exitosa al alienar a los trabajadores que de otra forma ayudarían a la misión de TeleSUR.

Todos estos temas me llevan a creer que hay un esfuerzo intencional para subvertir la misión de TeleSUR y TeleSUR en inglés. Antes del 4º aniversario de TeleSUR en inglés, me gustaría aportar algo de transparencia a estos temas y a los que los causan para poder abordarlos.

Pensamientos finales

TeleSUR y TeleSUR English, que se paga supuestamente en su nombre, produce gráficos que mienten; cuenta historias que nadie quiere leer; en un nivel de inglés que nadie quiere leer; en un sitio web que apenas funciona; está lleno de publicidad emergente para molestar a los lectores; hace que los empleados se vuelvan a vincular en lugares que nadie quiere leer; gasta dinero innecesariamente en aplicaciones que nadie usa; que ni siquiera funcionan; que solo muestra enlaces a videos de YouTube que nadie mira; o comentarios en.; solo ser querido y compartido por personas que no existen.

Money for Questions Answered about TeleSUR, The Ministry of Popular Power for Communication and Information, The Public Ministry, and the Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic

Independent Journalist and Media Strategist Needs Assistance

Greetings,

I have evidence of gross incompetence and corruption at the executive level of TeleSUR, but I am not sure how to obtain more information before I send a full report to the Venezuelan government.

If you can help me find the right contacts such that I can provide my report of gross incompetence at TeleSUR and get the job at TeleSUR English, I will send you money for your assistance.

I will specify my requests now, and then explain about my efforts at completing these two tasks as the questions I need to be answered and the way I’m seeking to get them answered will make some wonder.

Helping Me Report Corruption at TeleSUR English

Because of Arts. 28 y 143 CRBV o 10 de la Ley Contra la Corrupción I know that I can request information on public enterprises.

I requested information from the Ministry of Popular Power for Communication and Information on TeleSUR and I have requested information from Helga Malve, the Director of TeleSUR Communications. Neither has responded to me.

Who should I be contacting to get information related to TeleSUR’s budget and internal reporting documents?

Who can provide me legal assistance to help me formulate specific charges against TeleSUR Executives once I have reviewed these and found additional problems other than those I have already discovered?

Though Orlando Perez, currently assistant director of TeleSUR, once boasted of his success as Director of El Telegrafo in Aporrea in 2012, in 2017 he was said to be responsible for millions of dollars in waste.

Currently, I can show that he and Patricia Villegas are wasting money again, but only a portion of what I imagine they have wasted. I want to make a comprehensive report and want to make sure I’m citing the right statues and articles before I submit my official denunciation to the Ministerio Publica, Contraloria General de la Republica, and Transparencia Venezuela.

Rationale for Actions

Reporting Corruption at TeleSUR

Outing government corruption in any form is a public duty.

Without a doubt, I have evidence of malversacion (art 56) by the executive leadership at TeleSUR. Their website is and has been a disaster for years. However I’m not 100% sure who the parties involved were and won’t be able to tell until I can make a more informed review of internal documents.

Based on the strategy of the TeleSUR, I strongly believe that ocultamiento, inutilizacion, retencion, alteracion o destruccion de libros or documentos (Art. 78) has also occurred, but won’t know for sure once this is clarified for me in legal terms and I have the proper documentation.

I’ve requested that Helga Malve provide me with information promised by Patricia Villegas related to Cuidadano TeleSUR – the failed public support campaign for the organization. She has not told me how much money was collected nor what are the successes that Patricia Villegas speaks of in this promotional video.

As I wrote about in more detail here, the now former Director of TeleSUR English Pablo Vivanco paid for fake social media reactions; then lied about the cause of their Facebook Account going down to two of his long-time associates that then reported on this. I want to know, did TeleSUR pay these men to comment on a fake report? If so, this may fall under pagos fraudulentos (80.2) as the hoped for viral spread of this story never occurred or abuso de funciones (art 67), because the “reporters” used were friends of Pablo Vivanco’s.

The next two acts are related, and I’m not sure what the proper delito code so I group them together:

I have obtained numerous reports from TeleSUR contractors for non-payment or very late payment. I would like to look at the payment logs to determine if this is perhaps part of an effort by those who don’t want TeleSUR’s mission to succeed by alienating workers that would otherwise assist TeleSUR’s mission.

I have solicited numerous reports from TeleSUR employees as to a very high turnover rate, I’d like to look at the HR data to determine if indeed it is true and if so try to find out if this is perhaps part of an effort by those who don’t want TeleSUR’s mission to succeed by alienating workers that would otherwise assist TeleSUR’s mission.

All these issues lead me to believe that there is an intentional effort to subvert the mission of TeleSUR and TeleSUR English. Before the 4-year anniversary of TeleSUR English, I would like to bring some transparency to these issues and those causing them so that they can be addressed.

If you can give me information on this, please email me.

Closing Thoughts

TeleSUR and TeleSUR English, which is paid for supposedly in Venezuelans name, produces graphics that lie; tells stories that no one wants to read; at a level of English that no one wants to read; on a website that barely functions; is filled with pop-up advertising to annoy readers; has employees back-linking to in places no one wants to read; spends money needlessly on apps no one uses; that don’t even function; which just shows links to YouTube videos no one watches; or comments on; leading to no subsequent change of psychological identification or change in behavior; except being liked and shared by people that don’t exist. The grand vision described in the interviews of Patricia Villegas is more like a listing of her lies.

TeleSUR English: Deconstructing Pablo Vivanco’s Resignation Email

Pablo Vivanco, former Director of TeleSUR English

“Dear compañeras and compañeros, I am writing to let you know that after months of planning, I will be moving on from teleSUR and beautiful Quito in order to pursue other opportunities. It has been an extraordinary honor and privilege to work with you all, and of course, to have served this project for the last 4 years.

I am proud to have made a modest contribution to this important endeavor as it continues to grow and improve in spite of difficulties and the increasing hostilities towards teleSUR’s stakeholders like Venezuela and Cuba.

Latin America is in the middle of a complex period, and now more than ever, people around the world need a counter-narrative to understand what is happening and the intense campaign against the progressive processes that – despite their contradictions and flaws – have reduced poverty and dependence in the region.

I am confident in the colleagues who will continue to work on this mission to promote South-South integration and a counter-hegemonic perspective, and I hope you will continue working with them and the organization. Again, thank you for your collaboration and friendship, and hope that our paths will cross again.

Saludos y venceremos

Pablo Vivanco”

I am leaving suddenly unceremoniously, without even having made plans for someone to take my place or having found an employer that would hire me based on my experience as Director of TeleSUR English.

I cannot name a single article, video, multi-media interactive or project or other forms of media content that performed well enough that I am proud of it. I place the blame for my poor performance on others for having a negative attitude towards some of our donor countries rather than at my own feet.

Here I share banalities about how complex things are in the world, which ironically underscores just how awful my tenure as director was.

I end with platitudes because in truth I’m being forced out of my position and this sounds nicer than reality.

Spanish Translation

“Queridas compañeras y compañeros, les escribiré para informarles que después de meses de planificación, me mudaré de la teleSUR y la bella ciudad de Quito para buscar otras oportunidades Ha sido un honor y un privilegio extraordinario trabajar con todos ustedes, y, por supuesto, haber servido este proyecto durante los últimos 4 años.

Me enorgullece haber hecho una modesta contribución a este importante esfuerzo, ya que continúa creciendo y mejorando a pesar de las dificultades y las hostilidades crecientes hacia las partes interesadas de teleSUR como Venezuela y Cuba.

América Latina se encuentra en medio de un período complejo, y ahora más que nunca, las personas de todo el mundo necesitan una contra-narrativa para comprender lo que está sucediendo y una intensa campaña contra los procesos progresivos que, a pesar de sus contradicciones y defectos, han reducido la pobreza y dependencia en la región.

Confío en los colegas que continuarán trabajando en esta misión para promover la integración Sur-Sur y una perspectiva contrahegemónica, y espero que continúen trabajando con ellos y la organización. De nuevo, gracias por su colaboración y amistad, y espero que nuestros caminos se crucen de nuevo.

Saludos y venceremos

Pablo Vivanco”

Me voy de repente sin ceremonias, sin siquiera haber hecho planes para que alguien ocupe mi lugar o haya encontrado un empleador que me contrataría en función de mi experiencia como Director de TeleSUR en inglés.

No puedo nombrar ni un solo artículo, video, multimedia interactivo o proyecto u otras formas de contenido multimedia que funcionen lo suficientemente bien como para estar orgulloso de ello. Yo responsabilizo a otros por mi pobre desempeño por tener una actitud negativa hacia algunos de nuestros países donantes en lugar de tener mis propios pies.

Aquí comparto las banalidades sobre cuán complejas son las cosas en el mundo, lo que irónicamente subraya cuán horrible fue mi cargo como director.

Termino con tópicos porque en verdad me están obligando a salir de mi posición y esto suena mejor que la realidad.

TeleSUR English Employee Survey

Here is the link to the Google Form for TeleSUR English Employees.

The purpose of this is to determine whether or not the sentiments expressed in the article Betraying the Bolivarian Revolution: Vichy Journalism at teleSUR English as well as the article TeleSUR: Que nuestro Norte vuelva a ser el SUR! are unique to the authors, or if there is genuine discontent with management practices.

On Anonymity and Eduardo Rothe

Reading the article “TeleSUR and the Anonymous” by Eduardo Rothe made me cringe for a number of reasons.

For one, his argument is so divorced from the realities of office life that I can’t help but wonder whether the author has ever worked for a prolonged period of time in a large office setting.

Secondarily, he ascribes a sacrosanct aura to TeleSUR as a revolutionary organization and Venezuelan labor law that is a wretched form of fetishism and dogmatism.

Third he denies the necessity of a formal inquiry into charges that have been repeatedly made despite the ease which such an investigation could be accomplished.

Fourth, he conjectures that those expressing discontent in regards office policy may be “manipulated by the enemy” – exactly the type of stigmatization that makes a creative, constitutive enterprise like TeleSUR become stagnant and filled with ideological automatons that can recite the part catechism without missing a word but may not have the right skills to do good work.

The Realities of Office Life

Only someone that has never witnessed or experienced increased adversarial behavior by management or shunning by one’s co-workers for fear of being associated with them following a comment made that contests the correctness of management’s decisions, or something along that line, could make such an argument.

Eduardo Rothe’s criticism is so absurd as to also ignore the realities of changing jobs and the power that management has as a result of their recommendations and references for that person.

Black-listing of workers deemed problematic has long been a way of enforcing beliefs and disciplining workers. The black-list is not always of a quality wherein it is some secret document shared or comment made by management, but in the case of a media organization like TeleSUR becomes something that becomes discoverable by those doing due diligence before a hire.

It’s because of just such publicly available documents that I was able to create these biographies of the people that work at TeleSUR. It’s this document, for instance, that allowed me to connect the director of TeleSUR English, Pablo Vivanco, to RPRPR RPRPR of Time Magazine – and thus explain how such factually baseless news that reads more like an advertisement to be disseminated.

This sort of behavior is done in places where any murmur of discontent leads to major stigmatization by management. Anyone who receives such a mark of Cain suddenly has their entire manner of relating to others at work changed.

It means that people avoid talking to you in the office kitchen lest management sees or gets a report. It means you don’t get invited out to lunch or drinks with the same people lest management gets a report. One starts to wonder if their criticism about a new policy or deadline is going to make its way through the office grapevine, where a write up of insubordination or some other trivial cause now means that you are on the path out the door.

In a meeting, your voice may not have the same aura of authority; your insights – no matter how beneficial – may be categorically dismissed. You become the embodiment of why one should not speak up as people may make morale-killing wisecracks about your actions

In a media outlet that describes itself as wanting to be a constitutive force it sure is ridiculous that they’re not able to do more in order to create that. What normalizing such workplace behavior does is to limit the availability to attract highly skilled talent as those that have professionally developed themselves to fit such a role can easily find opportunities elsewhere, in a place where one need not fit a particular ideological mold.

The Aura of Unassailable Authority

It is the height of absurdity to state that because a law exists and means for investigating claims that laws were broken exists that such violations need not be publicized. A correlative to the above point, once someone submits information to the Ministry of Labor they are now on record as being someone that is a “problem”.

Furthermore, it’s the nature of government institutions to cover up the misdoings of other institutions. This is not some peculiarity of post-Chavez politics in Venezuela but is something that happens in the United States frequently. Police refer to it as the blue line, and its often times not until such a public furor happens – like in Ferguson – that suppressed realities become clear.

It’s for this reason that Rothe’s claim that the people who wrote the article to which he is responding are arguing for abstract principles completely misinterprets them. They are expressing a means of exercising a greater degree of control over their work through an onsite organization as they feel that the means by which they have to appeal are insufficient.

The Ease of Investigation via Digitization

Addressing the third issue, as I’ve pointed out elsewhere, given the digitization of work and work schedules making an inquiry into the charges made by the anonymous employees does not take a significant amount of time. It not only becomes a means of determining whether or not these charges are true, but it allows for the objective identification of those that act contrary to a positive work environment. With this process in place, those identified as potential trouble sources can either receive more training on how to better do their job, be reassigned to some other position, or be told to leave if the problems found are significant.

Creating an Authoritarian Workplace

It’s exactly what Eduardo Rothe describes as desirable that extensive studies have shown to be exactly what makes workers dissatisfied, disengaged and unappealing to those that view authority in meritocratic terms. It’s why, in the United States, the private sector often finds it easier to attract highly skilled workers in various industries.

Innovation occurs when traditional methods for doing something and established boundaries are pushed. An enterprise such as TeleSUR, whose mission is the propagandizing towards the formation of a new type of political subjectivity by very definition requires such persons to resist the bureaucratic rationalizations that may look good on reports but on the ground have little to no import.

TeleSUR English: Onsite Audit Overview

Tracing TeleSUR English’s Trajectory

Components of Audit

Google Analytics
Social Media Engagement
YouTube Live Streaming Data
YouTube Data
You’re the Reporter Engagement
Cuidadano TeleSUR
TeleSUR’s Apps
TeleSUR Training Programs
Company Policies
Advertisement/Monetization Information
Email Signups
Services Offered
Human Resources Data
Employee Issues and Ideas

Google Analytics

Access to this is imperative for me to strategize a growth strategy and a content repurposing strategy.

Social Media Engagement

Tools like TalkWalker, for example, are just some of the many tools which I use that provide all sorts of insight. I’d like information not just on TeleSUR English’s Facebook profile but also all of their social media profiles.

Facebook

TeleSUR English
Tariq Ali TV
The Empire Files
TeleSUR Play
The Laura Flanders Show
Ñ Dont Stop
Global African TV

YouTube Live Streaming Data

If these number of viewers in these three pictures are indicative of the normal viewership of these programs?

What are the costs involved in live streaming?

YouTube Data

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The Andrew Self show should never have been produced past a season.

I’d like to review the process for choosing show development for a North American audience; learn costs involved for repurposing existent material to new standards as there is so much great material existent but in a format inappropriate to modern consumption means, and initiate a whole new manner for receiving pitches and determining what gets produced.

Website Engagement

Second login attempt takes me to a 404 page.

So when I tried to log in to make a comment on another page, it doesn’t work.

When I login in via Facebook it takes me here:

Compare this to the ease with which I can comment on other websites.

You’re the Reporter Engagement

After trying to make a comment on the website, I decided to see about signing up to be a reporter and could not log in via the login and password of the account I’d created. Facebook worked, but Google did not

Twitter log in could have worked

However after seeing what TeleSUR wanted me to authorize the app to be able to do the following.

- - - Update my profile.
    - Follow new people.
    - Post Tweets for me.

Reading this, I changed my mind. Lest someone think that such a request is normal, on the right is the Twitter permissions ask from RT in order to comment.

After I logged in to Facebook, however, it took me to the TeleSUR, rather than an English page.

I speak Spanish so I have not issue with this, the forms are pretty standard, so no problem there either, but it’s likely this is a majoy reason there are so few English speakers that are contributing to You’re The Reporter.

Style guides, documents on how to be a reporter, an outreach plan, etc. would also help sign up numbers.

Cuidadano TeleSUR

As I wrote about in my article TeleSUR English: Ciudadano teleSUR or Ten Cuidado Con Telesur? this appears to be very suspicious.

TeleSUR’s Apps

As I wrote about in TeleSUR English: Appalling App Adoption and Security Settings I think it very strange for the company to have invested so early on into apps and would like data and budgets related to this.

Is it really worth continuing to update these? What features could be added or taken away to salvage the initial investment? Who is tasked with servicing the apps now, as there are major problems with them.

Even though TeleSUR can operate outside of the normal constraints of a capitalist enterprise doesn’t mean that there should be no pre-planning done before making such investments or discipline against those that waste company resources.

TeleSUR Training Programs

TeleSUR English: Lying, Misleading, Useless and Ugly Infographics, the quality of multi-media projects is low. Instructionals and training needs to be made/provided to staff and should also be featured as a subsection of the website. This empowers people to be more technically literate and encourage a greater quality of contributions and draws more traffic. Think: “TeleSUR doesn’t just provide news, it provides media literacy.”

Company Policies

Based on the total lack of engagement from TeleSUR accounts on social media and on their website – even when people make incredibly inflammatory comments that ought to be deleted – I imagine that there is a policy of categorical non-engagement.

Because of this and the issues raised in the article TeleSUR English: Elitism, Non-Engagement and Fake Followers it’s worthwhile to review current policies and change as necessary based on social media goals.

The same applies for production processes, editorial processes, publishing processes, promotional processes, strategy processes and reporting processes

Advertisement/Monetization Information

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There’s nothing essentially wrong with having advertisements on a website.

Al-Jazeera has ads. BBC has ads CNN has ads. Fox News has ads. RT has ads. Sputnik News has ads.

However TeleSUR’s approach to ads is substantively different, they have ads nobody else has. Pop up ads are the most hated form of ads. And they have not one, but two pop-ups along with a pop up to collect emails. Not to mention the large ads which cause people to scroll through them in order to get to the comments section.

The experience of the reader is important, but it goes beyond this. Pop up blockers are increasingly becoming a built-in component of internet browsers. This means that this method of gaining revenue is often getting circumvented.

Furthermore, Google’s API devalues website with popups. They created a test the called the Ad Experience Report for webmasters. Those with backend access to the website are able to run the test and then get a grade based on the industry standards.

Because of all of the above, I’d like to know the following:

- - - 1. Revenue based on ads.
      2. Who was the person who gave final approval on such ads.
      3. The test results from the Ad Experience Report.

Email Signups

The copy and form need to be changed. Over the last two days, 1/3 of the featured articles in the emails were repeated.

I’d also like to know:

Conversion rates
Open rate
Click-through rate
Hard Bounce Rate
Unsubscribe rate
Delivery rate
Time on site
What other ways you utilize your list besides driving traffic.

Services Offered

On the TeleSUR English page listed as Services Catalog, there is no catalog.

On the TeleSUR home page, the Services Catalog is shown.

I imagine that this is just an oversight on behalf of the website team, but if it’s not and TeleSUR is banning English speakers from using their facilities for some reason I’d like to know why.

Human Resources Data

A high turn over rate is something in the TeleSUR English offices was claimed in the 2012 Apporea article Let The North Again Be Out South. This was also something that was mentioned in the 2014 leaked email article in Caracas Chronicles. Every current and former TeleSUR employee that I’ve spoken to have described the same experience.

With the start date and quit/fire dates of employees, this is an issue that can be easily turned into a Gantt chart to quickly visualized By color coding employees by department, it would even be possible to determine which jobs/managers are most likely to lead to turnover.

Employee Issues and Ideas

While all of the above is technical, they are all made by people. I categorically refuse to provide names, identifying information or documentation related to what was provided to me – suffice it to say I received a lot and a lot of people said that morale is low.

Giving them a recourse to speak with someone that will listen to their grievances will help morale and speed up the discovery time of processes that could be adjusted to be more

Guía de Denuncia Corrupción

El República Bolivariana de Venezuela ha creado esta guía sobre la importancia de denunciar la corrupción, que viene en muchas formas.

La denuncia de irregularidades es vital para responsabilizar a las poderosas instituciones; ya sea que esté en el gobierno o en el sector privado, si se da cuenta de un comportamiento que cree que no es ético, ilegal o perjudicial para el interés público, es importante que considere compartir su información de forma segura para minimizar el riesgo de exposición.

A continuación se encuentran las pautas para los denunciantes que buscan comunicarse conmigo. El método que debe usar depende de sus circunstancias personales, el tipo de información que está compartiendo y el nivel de riesgo que conlleva.

SIGNAL

Otra buena opción para compartir información es ponerse en contacto con nosotros en Signal, una aplicación de mensajería y voz segura. Puede descargar Signal para Android o iPhone.

Usar Signal para contactarnos es bastante fácil. Así es cómo:

Abra la aplicación Signal y toque el ícono de lápiz (en la parte superior derecha de un iPhone, en la esquina inferior derecha de Android) para comenzar un nuevo mensaje. Escriba mi número de teléfono en el cuadro de búsqueda, 561-779-3985. Desde allí, puede enviarnos un mensaje de señal encriptado.

Siga esta guía para ayudarlo a bloquear su teléfono y asegurarse de que lo que sucede en su aplicación Signal sea más privado.

Si usa su teléfono para enviarme un mensaje o llamarme a Signal, aprenderé su número de teléfono. Siempre es mejor para nuestro proceso de informes conocer la identidad de una fuente, pero podemos aceptar mantenerla confidencial. El servicio de señal también sabrá que se comunicó con nosotros, pero prometen no registrar nunca estos

CORREO ELECTRÓNICO

Si no tiene motivos para preocuparse por que alguien sepa que usted es una fuente, puede comunicarse con nuestros periodistas por correo electrónico, ya sea contactando a un periodista individualmente o enviando sugerencias a a.sheen@arielsheen.com.

Si lo desea, puede enviar su correo electrónico utilizando el cifrado PGP, pero tenga en cuenta que todavía habrá metadatos creados por su comunicación con nosotros, ya que su servidor de correo electrónico registrará el intercambio.

Qué no hacer si quieres permanecer anónimo

No me contactes del trabajo.

La mayoría de las redes corporativas y gubernamentales registran el tráfico. Incluso si estás usando Tor, ser el único usuario de Tor en el trabajo podría hacerte destacar.

No me envíe un correo electrónico, llámeme o contácteme en las redes sociales.

Desde el punto de vista de alguien que investiga una fuga, con quién te comunicas y cuándo, es todo lo que necesitas para convertirte en el principal sospechoso.

No le digas a nadie que eres una fuente.

Otras cosas para pensar

Antes de decidir compartir su historia conmigo, es posible que desee considerar consultar a un abogado para comprender mejor sus opciones y riesgos. Si decide ponerse en contacto con un abogado, trate de discutir todo cara a cara y tenga cuidado de no escribir ningún detalle en los correos electrónicos.

Si está pensando en proporcionarme documentos especialmente confidenciales, considere estos consejos adicionales:

Si ha tenido acceso a información secreta que se ha publicado, es probable que sus actividades en Internet externo estén bajo escrutinio, incluidos los sitios web que ha visitado o compartido en las redes sociales.

Asegúrese de considerar que los investigadores también pueden examinar los registros de su actividad en redes internas en su lugar de trabajo. Tenga en cuenta esto antes de enviarme información, y ajuste sus hábitos según sea necesario mucho antes de que decida convertirse en una fuente. Herramientas como Tor pueden ayudar a proteger el anonimato de tu navegación.

Mantenga su actividad de denuncia de irregularidades lo más separada posible del resto de lo que hace. No se lo digas a nadie y compartimenta lo más posible. No use cuentas que ya estén conectadas a usted. En su lugar, cree nuevas cuentas para este fin y no inicie sesión en ellas desde las redes a las que normalmente se conecta.

Asegúrate de limpiar lo mejor que puedas de ti mismo. Evite dejar huellas relacionadas con la denuncia de irregularidades alrededor de su computadora personal o de trabajo (en su carpeta Documentos, en el historial de su navegador web, etc.). Si se da cuenta de que realizó una búsqueda en Google relacionada con la denuncia de irregularidades mientras estaba conectado a su cuenta de Google, elimine su historial de búsqueda. Considere guardar todos los archivos relacionados en un dispositivo USB cifrado en lugar de en su computadora, y solo conéctelos cuando necesite trabajar con ellos.

Considere utilizar una computadora o sistema operativo completamente independiente para todas sus actividades de denuncia de irregularidades, de modo que una búsqueda forense en su computadora normal no revele nada. Incluso si usa el navegador Tor, por ejemplo, si alguien ha pirateado su computadora, podrá espiar todo lo que haga. Tails es un sistema operativo independiente que puedes instalar en una memoria USB y arrancar tu computadora. Tails está diseñado para no dejar rastros. No es intuitivo de usar, pero si arriesga mucho, probablemente valga la pena el esfuerzo. Puede encontrar instrucciones para descargar e instalar Tails aquí.

Es importante comprender que no se garantiza que ningún método de comunicación sea completamente seguro. Convertirse en un denunciante conlleva riesgos, pero se pueden minimizar si se tiene cuidado, y algunas veces es lo correcto.

TeleSUR English: Ciudadano teleSUR or Ten Cuidado Con Telesur?

The English Landing Page for Ciudadano TeleSUR

It wasn’t until I started to do background research for this Ciudadano TeleSUR that I realized that I’m a little late to the party when it comes to making this a talking point. Caracas Chronicles wrote an article about Ciudadano TeleSUR shortly before the 10th anniversary of TeleSUR’s founding, April 17th, 2016.

His article goes into the some of the background of Argentinean President Mauricio Macri ceasing to financially support of TeleSUR and TeleSUR English and how it’s effecting morale there. This article deals with something else entirely and to be frank I think the author, Gustavo Hernandez, missed the mark on what was important about the video and the project. That’s understandable, however, as my concern is with the interconnection between aesthetics, politics and technics.

The Advertisement for Why People Should Donate to TeleSUR

You can watch the video of Patricia Villegas making an appeal for money above, or quickly read the subtitles, in the original Spanish or in the English, below.

Spanish Subtitles

Telesur nació como una alternative informativa independiente dispuesta a comunicar lo que otros no quieren o multimedia y responsable con corresponsales en todo el mundo.

Hoy la misión de telesur está en riesgo hay gobernantes que no quieren escuchar la voz de nuestros pueblos.

Por razones políticas económicas prefieren callamos igual que los medios hegemónicos que responden a los intereses de las grandes corporaciones frente a las adversidades de su responde con la verdad con más participación y más democracia.

Por eso te invitamos a convertirse en un ciudadano de origen con su aporte continuaremos ofreciendo de las herramientas para que puedan discerner reclamar y construir todo lo recaudado será recortado transparentemente y conocerás lo que hemos logrado. Con su petición porque estar informado es tu derecho no un negocio de Telesur estamos comprometidos contigo y con la verdad y gracias a su colaboración seguiremos siendo la señal informativa de América.

English Translation

Telesur was born as an independent information alternative willing to communicate what others do not want or multimedia and responsible with correspondents around the world today

The mission of TeleSUR is at risk. There are rulers who do not want to hear the voice of our people.

Economic political reasons. They prefer to remain silent as the hegemonic media that respond to the interests of large corporations in the face of the adversities of their response with the truth with more participation and more democracy.

That is why we invite you to become a citizen supporter. With your contribution we will continue offering the tools so that they can discern claim and build all the proceeds will be cut transparently and you will know what we have achieved with your request because being informed is your right not a telesur business

We are committed to you and to the truth. Thanks to your collaboration we will continue being the informative signal of America

Ciudadano TeleSUR: What Proof?! is in the Pudding

I’ve When I heard Patricia Villegas of TeleSUR say that someone could simply give money and

My Email Exchange with Helga Malave

English Translation

Good morning Ariel,

Unfortunately this campaign did not have the expected response so it is no longer in circulation. We appreciate your interest but we are not receiving affiliations to Telesur Citizens.

Best regards,
Helga

I think it’s interesting to note that Helga’s response has does not answer the question that I asked: “what have previous donations paid for” nor does it even address it. Instead she tells me that the program is no longer on-going – which is unusual considering that the website is still up.

English Translation

Helga,

I’m sorry to hear that the campaign did not have the expected response. The mission of TeleSUR is good and something that I support.

Even though this program ended, I’m still curious about the transparency Patricia refers to in the video.

Could you provide me with the information you mention that is available upon request about the achievements of TeleSUR?

Thank you,
Ariel Sheen

After not receiving a response to this, I sent another query on March 7th.

After not receiving a response to my March 7th query, I sent one last one on March 9th, this time including questions related to the “benefits” that one was supposed to receive if they donated.

In English, the benefits are:

• Mailed a TeleSUR newsletter.
• Card that accredits you as a Citizen teleSUR.
• Invitation to special events when they take place in your city.
• Those who gett five friends to donate, will receive a flannel, T-shirt as special recognition.
• News about programming in advance.

If Information Is A Right, Why Can’t I Get It?

As a result of this exchange, I have so many questions, like

When Did Ciudadano TeleSUR End?!

#CiudadanoteleSUR Tweets

Looking at the the most recent tweets it hasn’t been something that has been promoted in over a year and a half. So why was there still a subheader on the TeleSUR ENglish website for it that was still functional?!

This and what I talk about below really gets me thinking…

Was Ciudadano TeleSUR a Scam?!

Hard to say since they won’t provide:

The information on when the fundraising drive ended.
The information on how much they raised.
The information on how many donations they received.
The information on what the money was used for.

Contrast the transparency show here with this other funding drive for reporters. Here’s a link to the IndieGoGo page, and for when that’s taken down here’s a web archive file.

Below you can clearly see indications of all of the above.

Why is it that TeleSUR and TeleSUR English won’t be transparent about this information?

Ciudadano teleSUR? More like Ten Cuidado Con Telesur.

Guide to Whistleblowing

**If you know something, say something.**

Whistleblowing is vital to holding powerful institutions accountable; whether you are in the government or the private sector, if you become aware of behavior that you believe is unethical, illegal, or damaging to the public interest, it’s important to consider sharing your information securely so as to minimize your risk of exposure.

Below are guidelines for whistleblowers seeking to communicate with me. What method you should use depends on your personal circumstances, the type of information you are sharing and the level of risk it entails.

SIGNAL

Another good option for sharing information is to contact us on Signal, a secure voice and messaging app. You can download Signal for Android or iPhone.

Using Signal to reach us is pretty easy. Here’s how:

Open the Signal app and tap the pen icon (in the top-right on an iPhone, in the bottom-right on Android) to start a new message. Type my phone number in the search box, 561-779-3985. From there, you can send us an encrypted Signal message.

Follow this guide to help lock down your phone and make sure what happens in your Signal app is more private.

If you use your phone to send me a message or call me on Signal, I will learn your phone number. It is always better for our reporting process to know a source’s identity, but we can agree to keep it confidential. The Signal service will also know that you contacted us, but they promise to never log this metadata.

EMAIL

If you have no reason to be concerned about anyone knowing that you are a source, you can reach our journalists by email, either by contacting a reporter individually or submitting tips at a.sheen@arielsheen.com.

If you want to, you can send your email using PGP encryption but keep in mind that there will still be metadata created by your communication with us, because your email server will record the exchange.

What Not To Do If You Want to Remain Anonymous

Don’t contact me from work.

Most corporate and government networks log traffic. Even if you’re using Tor, being the only Tor user at work could make you stand out.

Don’t email me, call me, or contact me on social media.

From the standpoint of someone investigating a leak, who you communicate with, and when, is all it takes to make you a prime suspect.

Don’t tell anyone that you’re a source.

Other Things To Think About

Before deciding to share your story with me, you might want to consider consulting an attorney to better understand your options and risks. If you do decide to contact an attorney, try to discuss everything face to face and be careful not to write any details in emails.

If you are thinking about providing me with particularly sensitive documents, consider these additional tips:

If you have had access to secret information that has been published, your activities on the external internet are likely to come under scrutiny, including what websites you have visited or shared to social media.

Make sure you consider that investigators may also examine logs of your activity on internal networks at your workplace.Be aware of this before sending information to me, and adjust your habits as needed well before you decide to become a source. Tools like Tor can help protect the anonymity of your surfing.

Keep your whistleblowing activity as separate as possible from the rest of what you do. Do not tell anyone and compartmentalize as much as possible. Don’t use accounts that are already connected to you. Instead, make new accounts for this purpose, and don’t log in to them from networks you normally connect to.

Make sure to clean up after yourself as best as you can. Avoid leaving traces related to whistleblowing lying around your personal or work computer (in your Documents folder, in your web browser history, etc.). If you realize you did a Google search related to whistleblowing while logged into your Google account, delete your search history. Consider keeping all related files on an encrypted USB stick rather than on your computer, and only plug it in when you need to work with them.

Consider using a completely separate computer or operating system for all of your whistleblowing activity so that a forensics search of your normal computer won’t reveal anything. Even if you’re using the Tor browser, for instance, if someone has hacked into your computer, they’ll be able to spy on everything you do. Tails is a separate operating system that you can install on a USB stick and boot your computer to. Tails is engineered to leave no traces behind. It’s not intuitive to use, but if you’re risking a lot, it’s probably worth the effort. You can find instructions for downloading and installing Tails here.

It is important to understand that no communication method is guaranteed to be completely secure. Becoming a whistleblower carries risks, but they can be minimized if you’re careful, and sometimes it’s the right thing to do.