Let’s be real for a second. What is happening right now in Ecuador is getting no serious coverage at all by U.S. media. For those who need to know, last week President Lenín Moreno enacted austerity measures that have led to major protests mostly led by the country’s indigenous population. It has gotten so serious that this week Moreno had to move his government from the capital city of Quito to the port city of Guayaquil. If you followed international or social media, you would know what is happening in Ecuador, as this one video explains:
"We're going to rise up until the price of fuel goes down."
Protests continue to rock Ecuador following fuel subsidy cuts. Hundreds of protesters have been arrested, and a curfew imposed. pic.twitter.com/HEhN7JNSO8
— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) October 9, 2019
Or these videos:
Earlier the citizens of #Ecuador arrived in the capital Quito chanting: A people united can never be defeated. They proceeded to enter parliament & expel the scammers #EcuadorProtests pic.twitter.com/8cL5Jw5yFs
— Dictator Watch (@Citizen_Alert1) October 9, 2019
Footage of ongoing police repression in Ecuador, where people are rising up against neoliberal policies of Moreno gov. Where is the Western media frenzy? https://t.co/cB5gn2gnRT
— Victor Figueroa (@FigueroaUK) October 9, 2019
But if you were to check the front pages of U.S. media outlets this morning, you would be hard pressed to find out what is actually happening in Ecuador. The following screen grabs were taken between 9 a.m. ET and 9:30 a.m. ET.
You be the judge.
CNN.com
As you can see, there is nothing at all about Ecuador, even in the World section:
NBC News
Nothing in the World News section. (FYI, it’s obvious to assume that if Ecuador is not in the World News section, it’s not on the top page of the site.)
CBS News
Same goes for CBS. No mention at all in the World section.
ABC News
You too, ABC News. Nothing.
MSNBC
You see a pattern here? Nada.
Fox News
Fox even has a Latin America sections. Nothing about Ecuador.
What about U.S. Spanish-language media outlets? There are mentions, but it’s not the top story.
Telemundo
A lot of space is being given to Trump impeachment process.
You have to scroll down to find out about Ecuador, and not before you get to learn about Central American gang stories.
Univision
Univision at least has given Ecuador some attention. It was the second top story.
And what about the front pages of the country’s two premier newspapers?
The Washington Post
Nothing. Not even a blurb in the World section.
The New York Times
If you go all the way to the bottom left, there it is.
So in summary, the Ecuador story is getting no serious coverage at all. It got a top second story by a Spanish-language outlet. It got a front-page blurb by the country’s paper of record. Another Spanish-language outlet has it on its page if you scroll down. The rest of the country’s major news media? Nothing.
Now, we will probably get excuses that Ecuador is a small country, that it is Latin America, that it has no influence, etc. etc. But those are all excuses because as Pew states, about 738,000 Latinos of Ecuadorian descent live in the United States.
“Since 2000, the Ecuadorian-origin population has increased 174%, growing from 270,000 to 738,000 over the period,” Pew states.
If you want more, around 287,000 people of Ecuadorian descent live in New York, around 138,000 live in New Jersey (hello, NY media market) and about 80,000 live in Florida.
And let’s not ignore the fact that millions of U.S. Latinos actually follow news out of Latin America.
What the world is witnessing right now is a mostly indigenous national protest fighting austerity measures against a neoliberal president, who is claiming (with no evidence) that the protest is being funded by Venezuela, while he is earning the support of the Venezuelan opposition. And then you wonder why U.S. media doesn’t want to cover this?
Granted, places like the AP and Reuters are filing reports, but let’s be real: unless Americans don’t see Ecuador up front in places like CNN, the WashPo, the Times and major network news and cable news outlets, it doesn’t become news.
The question we have is simple: why?
Imagine if the U.S. say more images like these below, with the following headline: Indigenous Anti-Government Protesters Demand Change in Ecuador.
Indigenous anti-government protesters arrive by foot in Quito, Ecuador, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2019. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)
Imagine that.
[…] Ecuador protests happened after President Lenín Moreno announced an austerity package negotiated as part of an IMF program. Indigenous organizations and workers unions called for a […]