Topic of the Week: U.S. Makes Deal with Venezuela for Oil

President Trump announced last week that the U.S. struck a deal with Venezuela to get majority control of more than 65 billion barrels of oil reserves, calling it “the biggest oil deal in world history.” Our analysts rated media coverage about the deal in our Topic of the Week.

Reporting from CNBC and The Hill provided the most fact-based and unbiased reporting from our content set. The CNBC article explains what is known about the deal and how it might affect rising energy prices leading into the midterm elections this fall. It also gives background about the U.S. capture of former President Nicolas Maduro and how the war in Iran has led to higher gas prices and a shortage of oil reserves in the U.S. An accompanying video provides analysis about the deal, leading to overall ratings of “a mix of fact reporting and analysis” with a “middle” bias.

The Hill provides more details about the deal, including that it was made via an unnamed private operator and that the U.S. government will have more than half of the value of the new oil company. The article and short video address previous comments made by oil executives that it will be difficult to set up the infrastructure to extract oil from fields in Venezuela, and they say this deal will be unlikely to lead to lower gas prices soon. Analysts rated this reporting as a “mix of fact reporting and analysis” with a “middle” bias.

In a video from “Fox & Friends Weekend” hosts Charles Hurt and Griff Jenkins applaud Trump for removing Maduro from power and making the oil deal. They explain how the deal is expected to help both the U.S. and Venezuela, playing a clip of Interim President Delcy Rodriguez promoting the deal to her citizens. Comments from officials both for and against the deal are included. Host Rachel Campos-Duffy, however, calls Rodriguez “interim dictator” and says she had expected that the U.S. would help the Venezuelan people when they removed Maduro, rather than keeping a Communist in power in order to make an oil deal. “Until there are elections, there will be a lot of questions about motivations here and whether the interests of the Venezuelan people are at hand,” she says. Analysts rated the video as “analysis” with a “skews right” bias.

A video from the MS NOW show “Alex Witt Reports” features an interview with former U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul and senior politics correspondent for Wired Hugo Lowell. McFaul calls the deal “imperialism” and says he’s “embarrassed as an American to be associated with a government that is doing this.” He criticizes Trump for making a deal with the “illegitimate dictator of Venezuela,” Delcy Rodriguez. Lowell says the deal will not lower oil prices before the midterm elections, as Republicans hope. Instead, it will take “$10 billion a year for the next 10 years … to bring the oil capacities to the level that Trump wants them, to make them commercially viable and to bring in enough oil into the strategic reserve.” The panel also discusses the Iran war and how it could negatively affect Republicans during the midterm elections because none of the U.S. goals have been met. Analysts rated the video as “opinion” with a “strong left” bias because only comments from critics of the oil deal were included.

An article from Raw Story begins with the headline: “Dark secret comes out on Trump’s big Venezuela oil deal: report.” The article focuses on details about the oil deal that were reported by the Wall Street Journal, most notably that the deal includes “a provision designed to exert a level of control over the South American company for 100 years.” However, analysts found that the article includes only the “bleakest details” about the deal and “does not reproduce all of WSJ’s points faithfully.” Analysts said the headline implies something nefarious, but it’s never explained in the article, leading to a reliability rating on the line between “opinion” and “selective or incomplete,” with a “strong left” bias.

Finally, an article on The Gateway Pundit website looks at the oil deal in relation to the U.S. trade negotiations with Canada. Writer Jim Hoft gives details about the deal and says it “delivers a potentially devastating blow to Canada’s globalist government.” He explains that Canada’s oil industry remains “overwhelmingly dependent on American buyers” and says Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney “nevertheless continues to escalate his reckless trade confrontation with the United States while pretending Ottawa can use Alberta’s oil as a weapon against Trump.” He says Trump has been laying the groundwork for this “energy realignment” for months: “While Carney threatens America, Trump is creating alternatives,” he writes. “President Trump is putting America first and leaving another arrogant foreign leader scrambling to catch up.” Analysts found that the article platforms Trump’s positions and is “highly partisan and cheerleading.” It was rated as “opinion” with a “hyper-partisan right” bias.

Want to see if you agree with our analysts? Follow along with our weekly Topic of the Week exercise by visiting our website. New Topics of the Week are posted each Monday. Read the articles and watch the videos yourself, then come back on Wednesday to compare your scores with our analysts. Learn more here.

Beth Heldebrandt is Director of Communications at Ad Fontes Media. She has more than 35 years of experience in the fields of journalism and public relations, and was an adjunct instructor of journalism for 17 years at Eastern Illinois University. Beth has a B.A. in journalism from Southern Illinois University-Carbondale and an M.A. in English from Eastern Illinois University. She’s a mom and grandma, and enjoys traveling, puzzles and reading.