When to Publish News of War

Trump’s military attack on Venezuela was a social media spectacle. What made the Times and the Post bury the scoop?

At 4:21am on Saturday, Donald Trump posted on Truth Social, his social media platform, that the United States military had “successfully carried out a large scale strike against Venezuela,” capturing its president, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife, Cilia Flores. Shortly before appearing at a press conference from his home in Palm Beach, Florida, Trump posted again, first a video—of helicopters flying over Caracas as fire ignited the sky, missiles fell, and black smoke rose—to the soundtrack of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Fortunate Son,” an anthem of the anti–Vietnam War movement. Then Trump posted a photo he said was of Maduro on board the USS Iwo Jima, which reporters rushed to verify; Maduro appeared to be wearing a gray Nike tracksuit, a blindfold, and shackles.

It was shocking, if not surprising, news. For years, Trump had expressed his wish to see Maduro removed from power. Over the past several months, he and Pete Hegseth—the secretary of defense, or war, depending on your preference—have attacked at least thirty alleged “narco-boats” in the region, killing more than a hundred people. At the press conference, held at 11am on Saturday, Trump called Maduro an “illegitimate dictator” who was “the kingpin of a vast criminal network.” Since becoming president, in 2013, Maduro had, in fact, overseen repression of Venezuelan democracy—including the independent press, continuing a policy of “communication hegemony” established by Hugo Chávez, his predecessor. According to Reporters Without Borders, “the government’s monopoly on the importation of newsprint and printing supplies resulted in the disappearance of the print editions of about a hundred newspapers,” and journalists in the country have often been “beaten or threatened in the course of their work.”