Venezuelan parliament passes new law slamming CNN's "campaign of lies"

The National Assembly of Venezuela approved on Tuesday a law initiative to repudiate the "campaign of lies" of the American news channel CNN, which is accused of targeting "democracy, stability and peace" in the South American country.

The initiative was put forward by Socialist deputy Earle Herrera, who said certain recent CNN reports had misrepresented happenings in Venezuela.

Last week, he said, CNN published a story about ongoing looting in the northern state of Aragua. Although the network apologized for its error later, "the essence of this information was to destabilize Venezuela."

Facts have shown that CNN's true intention in broadcasting such news was to "provoke looting...and manipulate the people to create chaos," Herrera said, noting that this was not the first time such "errors" had sought to impact the reality and stability of his country.

"CNN was the spearhead of a psychological and media strategy to provoke violence in Venezuela and justify the incursion of foreign forces", said Blanca Eekhout, fellow Socialist deputy, during the debate over Herrera's initiative.

Venezuelan authorities, including President Nicolas Maduro, have criticized CNN's editorial line in the past, which they see wrongly portrayed Venezuela as a country in the midst of chaos. Endi