Rebirth of Yellow Journalism: The White House’s Depiction of Maduro

Imagine a street with flickering streetlamps, used needles scattered along curbs, and people with red eyes and pale skin stumbling uncoordinatedly through the street while murmuring to themselves. This is what a drug-filled street looks like. Illicit substances are life-threatening substances that can change one’s life for the worse. In the U.S., these dangerous substances are often sourced from Latin American drug-trafficking cartels. Unchecked drugs can cause immense problems for our country.

To combat this issue, the U.S. government employs many strategies, such as working with law enforcement agencies and sanctioning drug-trafficking organizations. As one of the drug enforcement strategies, the White House recently deployed at least eight U.S. warships to the Venezuelan coast to combat the alleged narco-terrorist drug cartel regime in Venezuela. Prior to the deployment, the current president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, had already received condemnation from both the U.S. government and international organizations due to his anti-democratic and authoritarian regime.

Maduro has been the president of Venezuela since 2013, and since his first presidency, the country has faced both political and economic turmoil. More than 50,000 protests against the government broke out throughout the nation, most of which were violently repressed. His regime also led to inflation, the collapse of the Venezuelan economy, and shortages of food and medicine, all causing a humanitarian crisis where more than seven million refugees have fled from Venezuela. Despite his lack of legitimacy, Maduro was reelected in the 2018 election that was condemned by the U.S., Canada, the European Union, and most Latin American countries.

Additionally, there is some evidence that reveals the involvement of the Venezuelan government in drug trafficking. One high-ranking Venezuelan official, Hugo Carvajal, and family members of the Venezuelan president were found guilty of trafficking drugs into the U.S. In his trial, Carvajal was allegedly involved in a negotiation with U.S. prosecutors to reduce his sentence in return for information implicating illegal activities of the Maduro regime.

Although the deployment may be seen as a strong way to combat the alleged terrorist regime, it is important to highlight that the U.S. and only a few right-wing Latin American countries are the only countries that took a more extreme approach when portraying the Maduro regime to the public. In March 2025, President Donald Trump issued a proclamation stating that Cartel de los Soles, a narco-terrorism enterprise sponsored by the Maduro regime, cooperated with the Venezuelan terrorist organization Tren de Aragua. Later in July of the same year, the U.S. Department of the Treasury sanctioned the Cartel de los Soles, claiming that the cartel, led by Nicolás Maduro and other high-ranking individuals in Venezuela, trafficked drugs into the U.S.

Despite the U.S.’s shift in portrayal, international organizations showed insufficient evidence to prove the Maduro regime’s involvement as a terrorist organization. In fact, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) stated that Venezuela is not even classified as a cocaine-producing country. Most cocaine trafficked to the U.S. is of Colombian origin, with some coming from Peru and Bolivia. UNODC drug seizure statistics showed that most cocaine from these countries was seized in the Pacific routes, with more being seized in other Latin American countries than in Venezuela. In response to seeing these statistics, one U.S. diplomat questioned why the U.S. Navy was being sent to the Caribbean rather than the Pacific region where most of the cocaine is seized. 

This sudden shift in the portrayal of Venezuela without sufficient evidence by the U.S. government demonstrates the use of yellow journalism. Yellow journalism is reporting that uses sensationalism and over-exaggerated claims to manipulate readers to feel and act in a certain way. This form of journalism became preeminent in the late 1800s when new printing technology emerged because printing newspapers became cheaper and easier, increasing competition between publishers. In fact, two major publishers at the time, Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst, started to print more sensational and exaggerated news in order to catch the attention of larger audiences. 

One major example of yellow journalism is the sinking of the USS Maine. In January of 1898, the USS Maine sank in the harbor of Havana, Cuba, due to an explosion, causing the death of 266 people on board. Within days of the explosion, U.S. news outlets blamed Spain for the disaster using fabricated or misreported evidence, even though the actual cause was unknown. The primary motive behind this blame was U.S. economic interest in Cuba; prior to the explosion, Cuban revolutionaries who had been consistently fighting Spain created economic and political instability, posing a threat to American investment in the region. In order to serve American economic interests, the U.S. government used yellow journalism to justify declaring war on the Spanish without much civilian resistance. In the end, the war led to the deaths of more than 50,000 soldiers on both sides.

More recently, in 2003, the U.S. and its allies invaded Iraq to overthrow Saddam Hussein’s government. The U.S. government claimed that Iraq was producing weapons of mass destruction (WMDs), particularly nuclear and biological weapons, that may pose an immense threat to the world. The U.S. government relied on the claims of two Iraqi defectors who declared that they had confidential information concerning Iraq’s WMD program. Although the defectors later admitted that they fabricated their statements so that the allies could remove Hussein and his regime, their claims were enough to justify the invasion of Iraq and stir up public support for the invasion. In March of 2003, the allied troops invaded Iraq and captured Hussein by May. The execution of Hussein created a power vacuum in the region, leading to a civil war in Iraq in 2006. In 2011, the U.S. withdrew its troops after failing to find WMDs. In the war, more than 450,000 people died between 2003 and 2011. 

Both the scapegoating of the sinking of USS Maine and the invasion of Iraq without sufficient evidence reflect how the U.S. government’s use of yellow journalism helped justify its invasions and sway public opinion in favor of the American government’s interests. By using yellow journalism, the U.S. has ignited wars that have led to the devastating deaths of thousands of civilians and soldiers. The new accusations against Venezuela demonstrate a parallel with the tactics the U.S. used for its economic and political interests in the past. The exaggerated claims about Venezuela being a drug cartel can generate public hatred towards Venezuela, giving the government leverage and justification to invade Venezuela and overthrow the current government in the name of drug enforcement. These dangerous decisions may only cause more chaos and death in Venezuela, similar to what happened in Iraq and the Spanish-American War. 

Yellow journalism, shown through various examples in U.S. history, consists of exaggerated claims that are often insufficiently warranted or completely false. This harmful practice allows the U.S. government to manipulate the public to support the government’s interests, leading to demonstrably devastating results. With the use of yellow journalism starting to reveal itself again, it is the responsibility of Americans not to fall victim to these manipulative narratives to ensure that incidents similar to Iraq do not repeat themselves. American citizens should never rely on just one source for information on a topic, but instead must look at a variety of perspectives to identify the biases that can affect their understanding of issues. This small yet influential act can ensure that the public is not easily swayed by government propaganda. The recent portrayal of Venezuela serves as a wake-up call to all Americans. We must be aware of what the government might claim and always push ourselves to question whether it is accurate or just another case of yellow journalism.