Hugo Chavez v. The Media: Next Round

by Rick Rockwell

Venezuela’s oldest network may not be broadcasting, but the battle over free speech in that Latin American country did not end when RCTV’s signal was cut.

This Saturday morning (June 2) supporters of President Hugo Chavez will again take to the streets affirming his actions against the network. This is the latest in a series of protests over the past few weeks by government supporters and the opposition in this polarized nation over the decision to turn off RCTV.

And this week, after RCTV was off the air, Chavez and his government went on the offensive against other broadcasters. This is just the latest round in a fight stretching back almost from the time of Chavez’ election in 1998.

The intriguing part of this clash between media conglomerates and Chavez’ socialist government is that neither side occupies the moral high ground.

The owners and managers of RCTV and other television networks colluded with elements of the opposition to briefly overthrow Chavez in 2002. Even members of the opposition note that those who run RCTV are tainted by their past actions.

So when RCTV’s license to broadcast came up for renewal this year, Chavez announced he would not renew the concession. RCTV’s appeal of the decision is still pending before Venezuela’s Supreme Court, nevertheless the government seized the network’s transmission facilities last weekend, and, minutes after it went off the air, the network was replaced by a new state-run network, TVes.

Various international free press groups, human rights organizations, and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) of the Organization of American States all asked to have RCTV remain on the air until the network’s appeals were exhausted, but to no avail. This week, the Carter Center for Democracy weighed in, essentially taking the same position as this author, that both sides should open a dialogue and negotiate to calm tensions in the streets and to discuss how RCTV could be reinstated until its appeals are decided both by Venezuela’s courts and the IACHR. Importantly, the Carter Center also denounced the past actions of the media for creating a more polarized atmosphere.

That atmosphere was apparent on Venezuela’s Globovision network while it covered the end of RCTV. During the highly-politicized coverage, Globovision ran a video montage depicting the assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II, and set the pictures to the tune “This is not the End” by Ruben Blades. The Chavez government sued Globovision this week, and declared the video was a clear call for someone to assassinate the president. (To see Chavez’ reaction, please check here.)

Venezuela’s attorney general was also busy suing CNN this week. CNN had mistakenly used a background image that juxtaposed Chavez’ photo with pictures of members of al Qaeda, and instead of showing protests in Caracas the cable network had run pictures of protesters in Mexico. The government claimed CNN was trying to intentionally smear Chavez.

Meanwhile, members of the Chavez government warned Venezuelan broadcasters not to repeat the message from members of the Inter-American Press Association, which sent an official delegation to protest the RCTV shutdown. The government said repeating anything from that press group would result in a suit.

Information Minister William Lara even disputed whether RCTV was being closed and ordered reporters to say merely the network had lost its broadcast license. Lara said: "No media are being closed in Venezuela. This is a lie. Tell the truth!"

Of course, Lara is playing the game of legal semantics. Yes, RCTV can still set up satellite distribution of its programming (although it is debatable how many Venezuelans can afford such a service) or cable programming. And the network has continued to distribute information via internet. So technically, it is not closed. However, if a government seizes the transmitters of a broadcast network, for all intents and purposes it has been shut off.

Broadcasters may have opened the Pandora’s box of political polarization when they took sides and tried to oust Chavez. But now, the overly defensive reactions of Chavez and his government are spreading the chilling effect of self-censorship across Venezuela. And the next round in this battle won’t just be fought in the courts, on the airwaves or in the newspapers, but in the streets of Caracas.

For more background on this story, please see these previous entries:

• "The Closing of Venezuela's RCTV & Leftist Orthodoxy;"
  
• "Latin America's Many Fronts in the War on Words;"
  
• "Venezuela: Why Political Activists Don't Get Free Expression;"
• "World Press Freedom Day: Concern for Venezuela;"
• "Chavez Takes the Gloves Off Against RCTV;" and
• "Venezuela: Politics, Propaganda, and Polarization."

(Official photo of President Hugo Chavez on the set of Alo Presidente, his weekly television program, by Marcelo García from the Venezuelan government's website; the photo is in the public domain. For further debate on this topic, please see this segment of Democracy Now! To see a report on Information Minister William Lara's press conference – in Spanish – regarding Globovision, from Venezuelan state television, and the controversial video montage, please check below.)



Hugo Chavez
corporate media
politics
Latin America
Venezuela
RCTV
Globovision
CNN
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