Venezuelan English-language newspaper launched

ANNOUNCING VENEZUELA’S FIRST AND ONLY ENGLISH LANGUAGE NEWSPAPER, THE CORREO DEL ORINOCO INTERNATIONAL

Caracas, 22 January 2010 – This Friday, Venezuela celebrates the launching of its first and only English language newspaper, the Correo del Orinoco International. While in the past other English-language publications have existed, none remain in circulation today, and no others have been created during the Bolivarian Revolution.

Editor-in-Chief Eva Golinger explained, “This will be the first newspaper of its kind in Venezuela. We will produce news and information for an international audience, but from the Venezuelan perspective. Most of the news that’s out there in English comes from international news agencies that report with a biased perspective and tend to ignore important human interest stories that paint a positive picture of the Chávez government.”

“Our most important mission is to combat the massive media manipulation and information blockade against Venezuela and to inform the international community about many incredible events taking place daily inside Venezuela that rarely receive attention from the corporate media”, commented Golinger.

The original Correo del Orinoco was founded by Venezuela’s liberator, Simón Bolívar on June 27, 1818. It served as a principal source of information during the time of independence and the creation of the Venezuelan Republic. Bolívar encouraged writing and reporting as a form of “artillery”, termed by him as the “Artillery of Ideas”.

One hundred ninety one years later, the Correo del Orinoco in Spanish was relaunched as part of the Venezuelan people’s effort to combat corporate media misreporting and disinformation campaigns against the Venezuelan government and the Bolivarian Revolution, nationally and internationally. Today, the Correo del Orinoco is a widely-read and referenced daily paper, reporting on political, social, economic, judicial, cultural and international events of importance to the Venezuelan people, with a balanced and informative tone.

In times of Simón Bolívar, the Correo del Orinoco was published not only in Spanish, but also occasionally in English and French. Today this tradition is continued with the creation of the first foreign language version of the Correo del Orinoco International, a weekly paper in English for distribution nationally and internationally.

“Issues and stories of how social and economic justice are being built in Venezuela today will be our priority”, added the editor, Eva Golinger.

The Correo del Orinoco International will be available in print this Friday, January 22, and next Friday, January 29, as a free insert in the Spanish-language daily edition. The English-language paper will be formally launched as a separate publication on February 4, and then will be available every Friday at newstands across Venezuela. International distribution of the print edition is a future goal, but initially, it will be available in digital format on the Spanish-language website, also to be launched February 4.

This week’s trial edition is available at: http://centrodealerta.org/documentos_desclasificados/correo_del_orinoco_internat.pdf.

Newspaper taken over by its staff

From BBC News - Scotland, October 29, 2009

West Highland Free Press was set up in 1972

Staff at the award-winning West Highland Free Press have taken the publication over from five shareholders who had owned it.

The weekly was founded in 1972 as a left-wing newspaper to campaign for the Gaelic language and against absentee landlords.

Among its founding shareholders was Brian Wilson, a former Labour government minister.

The newspaper will now be managed by a trust centred around the staff.

Mr Wilson said the Free Press was in good shape.

The paper's Gaelic slogan on its masthead - An Tir, an Canan 'sna Daoine - translates as the land, the language, the people and was borrowed from the Highland Land League.

In the late 19th Century the league campaigned on behalf of crofters.

Media consultant and former editor of the Herald, Charles McGhee, said the Free Press has always been different from other local papers which were struggling to keep readers and raise revenue from advertising.

He said: "There is generally a depression across the whole industry.

"There are one or two bright spots and one of these is the West Highland Free Press. Its circulation over the last six months is only down by about 2%, which in a declining market is a good performance."

Mr McGhee added: "Part of the reason for that is that the West Highland Free press is one of the few newspapers in Scotland that is still independently owned, it's still very much rooted in its community and services that community really well."