Where's Obama?

Compared to other networks there are surprisingly few images (photos or video) of Barack Obama broadcast on Telesur, and very limited coverage of Obama’s administration so far, both on the website and live channel. Telesur makes clear that its mission is to focus on issues of significance to Latin America and to skew away from U.S.-centric reporting. Still, for a station as conscious of image and personality as Telesur, it seems like part of an overall editorial policy. The policy could be a response to Obama’s popularity in Latin America, which is extremely high according to a BBC world service poll taken around the time of the inauguration.

In comparison, pictures of Bush and key members of his administration appeared often on Telesur, especially on the website, in articles critical of his policies. Ironically, Bush’s unpopularity may have been good for business for the Chavez administration, while, based on the cold shoulder he’s gotten so far in coverage, Obama may be bad for business.

While Obama has been nowhere to be found recently on the Telesur site, CNN en Espanol has kept a running story called “The First 100 Days of Obama” on its website. Other international broadcasters like Press TV, Russia Today and Al Jazeera English also seem to show Obama more frequently, so this may be unique to Telesur for the moment.