BBC bans their journalists from reporting that the US has 'kidnapped' President Maduro

The Socialist Bulletin Staff - 6/1/2026

A leaked internal email from BBC management has revealed that the British state broadcaster has forbidden its journalists from using the word 'kidnapped' when referring to the kidnapping of President Maduro of Venezuela.

The broadcaster instead now requires their journalists to use the term 'captured' or 'seized' instead, in an attempt to manufacture consent for the kidnapping by using softer terminology.

This comes despite the widespread acceptance of the description of the illegal act as a 'kidnapping', including by the Venezuelan government and by Donald Trump himself.

The UK government has produced one of the weakest statements on the illegal action in Venezuela, with Prime Minister Starmer celebrating the illegal overthrow of the Maduro government, and providing extremely basic lip service to the principles of international law, so the deplorable requirement by the BBC is not a surprise.

Describing the illegal action by the United States regime as a kidnapping is the most basic way for journalists to report accurately on the incident, and this latest requirement leaves the BBC an entirely unreliable narrator for information on the crisis in Venezuela.

This requirement by the BBC editor, as a state employee, shows that the west does not care about international laws, as long as it is their allies brazenly violating them.