MICHAEL WALSH WORLD NEWS

The BBC has instructed staff to avoid describing the US abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro as a ’kidnapping’. Staff must use less loaded alternatives.

These alternatives include ‘seized,’ according to a leaked internal memo shared online by British journalist and Guardian columnist Owen Jones.

The elected President Maduro was kidnapped in a US military raid on Caracas over the weekend. The head of state was flown to New York. He faced fake US drug trafficking and weapons charges. He denied these charges during his first appearance before the court. Maduro insisted that he had been kidnapped.

The BBC management now de-facto bans journalists from stating that the US kidnapped Maduro. This is according to the leaked memo. Acceptable terms are ‘seized’ and ‘captured’.

In his post, Jones called ‘seized’ ’at best, a euphemism,’ branding the policy ’Orwellian stuff’.

The pundit recalled that US President Donald Trump himself has acknowledged that ‘kidnapped’ is ’not a bad term.’

This comes after UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer did not answer whether the US attack on Venezuela violated international law. He emphasized that Britain’s priority remains a ‘peaceful transition to democracy.’

The leaked memo adds to the controversy surrounding the BBC over its editorial policies. The BBC has also faced recurring criticism over its Israel-Gaza coverage. Critics accuse it of heavy pro-Israel bias. They also accuse it of downplaying the suffering of the Palestinians.

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